The Deep, Mana of the Past
by BardofWorlds
Summary: The Sea is vast and full of wealth. What secrets will the Nektons discover about the connection between Mana, Creatures and Lemuria? What ripples will spread from their actions to threaten the world. Another Part of my 3 World Project. For the Deep this is Season 3, i hope you all enjoy it.


Here's another part of my three world story, this one focus on The Deep, a 3d cartoon about the Nekton family quest to find the ancient city of their ancestors Lemuria. But first I gotta say, almost 40 thousand words, I can't believe that I wrote so much and I am so proud of it, so just sit back and enjoy

A slender twelve year old boy with light brown skin and brown, spiky hair in a sleeveless blue wetsuit with thick orange lines on the sides with an orange circle with three squid legs outlined against the blue on his chest walked through a high tech looking hallway, a clear tube filled with water to on the wall to his right and a small fish with a body colored blue-purplish with yellow on the top and small fins swam after him.

"Jeffery, I can't believe how long this study is going to take, I mean after the Kraken we should be chasing down all the symbols we can to find Lemuria before Alpheus does something else or wakes a monumental. I mean sure the World Ocean's Authority said this was time sensitive but we're just tracking whales, but couldn't they have sent one of their own subs for it?" The boy asked as he walked, looking at Jeffry as he swam through the tubes as he walked through the hallways.

"Didn't you hear the commander Ant? Whales go under the North Pole and sometime some of them are never seen again, even with trackers they completely disappear. This time a pod is making a run and we're nearby, we can follow it and find out where they go. And they can't use one of their subs because they're all too far off to have made it under the ice before the whales do." A voice ahead of him caused him to look up. The speaker was a girl slender but taller than him with light brown skin and brown hair with pink bangs. She was wearing a blue wetsuit with covered arms with thick green lines on the sides and a green ring around the middle of her arms with a green circle with three squid legs outlined against the blue on her chest. She looked at Ant with a look of mock concern on her face.

"Still why did it have to be us, we have more important things to do you know!" Ant said as the girl sighed at him.

"Do they know that little brother? After the first monumental we found I thought we all agreed we should try to keep the knowledge that they exist on the down low?" She asked as Ant blushed in embarrassment.

"Your right Fontanne, but we have to find the device before Alpheus does, if he wakes even a single monumental the amount of damage it could cause, I don't want to think about it." Ant said as he walked past his sister who nodded.

"Just thinking if that ray had woken up still gives me nightmares. But remember we know what the device is; he doesn't. And didn't you see a symbol when we looked at the North Pole? So somewhere down here there's something so after we chase the whale for as long as we can, then we can try to find out what the symbol means and cut it off the possible locations for Lemuria." Fontanne said as she followed her brother down the hallway. Ant merely sighed as he walked. _Why does my sister have to be right about this? I can be a little mad, after all my nemesis is gaining ground while we're not. But still missing whales!_ Ant thought as he finally realized what his family was doing.

"Your right Fontanne and solving the mystery would be kinda cool." Ant said as he grinned as he speed up his walk towards the bridge. Fontanne looked at him and shook her head and turned towards Jeffery who just floated there.

"You know sometime I'm worried that he might be bipolar Jeffery, what with how he snaps back like that all the time." Fontanne said as put her hands on the wall towards the ocean, something was out there, and she _sensed_ it as they moved north._ Still why do I feel weird the farther north we move? I have a….strange feeling it's like I'm coming home, it's like something is going to happen, and it will change my whole life._ She thought as she walked after her brother looking ahead at something she felt they were coming closer to.

"So we're within twenty miles of the pod. I would say given what we know about whales and how that whale almost rammed into us when it was fighting that squid I would say we shouldn't go closer than maybe what, six miles?" The speaker was a slender, tall woman with tan skin and teal eyes in a blue swimsuit with thick pink lines on the sides with only the top half of her arms covered by the suit and a pink circle with three squid legs outlined against the blue of her wetsuit on her chest. A chuckle caused her to turn and smile at a tall man with light brown skin and brown hair in a blue sleeveless wetsuit with aqua green sides and a green circle with three squid legs outlined against the blue on his chest at a station to the left as he turned the chair to look at her.

"Well Kaiko given why we're here I would say that anything between ten miles to twelve miles would be perfect." The man said as Kaiko sighed. The man looked at her and frowned as he noticed how she looked.

"What is it, what's wrong Kaiko?" The man asked as Kaiko looked at him before turning around and brining up a holographic screen that showed pictures of the pod until one of them was isolated. It was just behind the leader and was one of the largest in the group, Will noticed that it had a few scars on its body and the signs of age it showed.

"Look at how old that one is; given why we're here, I'm worried that we're going to end up at a graveyard Will." Kaiko said as Will looked at the whale and found himself nodding after a while.

"And if we do so then who else will find out if the World Ocean Authority does, I remember what happened with 'Child of Kraken'. If we find anything that might be… prohibitive for other people to know then we'll make sure they don't." Will said as he started to understand his wife's worry. _ If this really is a hidden graveyard then she's right, the damage that whalers could do with that knowledge if we can find a pattern in their behavior, we'll just have to try and make sure they never get that data._ Will thought as he looked out the bridges main window.

"All we can do then is wipe the information from our system and go from there. I mean after all the work Fiction put into making the _Aronnax _an iron box since Alpheus revealed he hacked into our systems." Kaiko said as Will winced at that. The upgrades they had to make sure that Alpheus didn't hack back in were quite extensive. They had even add another mainframe that controlled the study and held their research notes, and to access the system the station had to physically change to wired communication, the changeover took seconds but the bridge stations were hard wired to the wireless system only. It wasn't perfect but it was the best they could do to work against an AI. A door opening behind them caused him to turn and smiled at the sight of his children coming onto the bridge, a quick glance showed him that Jeffry had swam into the bridge's 'fishbowl'.

"So how close are we to the whale pod?" Ant asked as Fontaine looked at Will over Ant's head and rolled her eyes. He chuckled at this and smiled at his children.

"And a few minutes ago you were talking about how this study would take and now you're excited?" Fontaine asked as she smirked as Ant looked at her with a glare. Will chuckled as Kaiko just smirked as she looked down at her station as she tuned out another wonderful episode of the Ant and Font show. _Those two, what am I going to do with them. Wait, what in the world?_ Kaiko thought as she sat up straight and looked down at the temperature reading.

"Will; check that the outside thermostats are working right, because if they are then we have a another mystery on our hand." Kaiko said as she looked at dowm at her station in shock.

"What the hell are those Nektons after up here, what treasure could those do gooders be tracking now? And someone fix that damn sonar!" The person who bellowed was a tall burly man with a thick black beard/mustache wearing a red vest over a dark shirt with a white anchor in a white circle on it looked at a screen displaying the Nektons sub, the _Aronnax_ as it moved ahead of them. The screen went black until the man slammed a fist against the side._ Blasted thing, can't anything on this sub do anything right when I need it to!_ The man thought before he heard a voice.

"The sonar's on the fits again Cap'n Hammerhead. All we can see is about ten miles, if their after something we can't see." The man who spoke was bald in a green heavy jacket as he held the ships steering wheel. A snort from behind them caused Hammerhead to turn and glare at a slender white skinned boy with black hair in a black shirt with a red octopus in the center and had brown pants on.

"And what's your problem Smiling Finn, got something to say?" Hammerhead asked as he snarled at his son. Finn met his father's glare with one of his own as he looked at his father.

"I'm all for bothering or tracking the _Aronnax_ as any of our crew dad, but remember we were going back to base for the annual overhaul? The sonar's just the first sign that the maintenance issues and will still keep growing. And the water's just going to increase the issues with how the engine's intake valve broke last week, remember?" Finn asked as Hammerhead only glared at his son.

"The Necktons won't be making a trip like this at this time of the year without a very good reason! After they found that room near the Volcano I know they're onto something! We could be on the trail of a payday beyond anything we've had before!" Hammerhead exclaimed as his son only looked at him.

"But what was the room? I've looked up that symbol and I can't find anything anywhere that tells what it was or what culture is was. And it's the _polar night_ for god's sake! We should be making it back to base, we can track down the Nektons after we've repair the Orca!" Finn snarled as he looked at his father. _Why the hell does dad have to be so obsessed with them, I can't even think of a single reason beyond wanting to one up Necktons_ _and prove himself better than them. And if they have a treasure map so what, we can track down our own salvage and still make it into the black! _ Finn thought as his father looked at him before he exploded.

"IF YOU'RE SO WORRIED THEN GO CHECK ON THE ENGINE YOURSELF THEN! So go and make sure we can stay mobile until we get back to base when we're done!" Hammerhead said as he glared at Finn.

"We need someone who can go and check on the supplies too! Finn why don't you do that and have Mad Madeline drop a few fishing lines into moon pool?" The bald man called out to Finn who looked at the man before nodding and walked off without a word as Hammerhead snarled. The man at the steering wheel turned to look at Hammerhead and when Hammerhead turned back he looked at him until he exploded.

"Anything you want to say Danny Boy?" Hammerhead asked as he looked at his helmsman who looked worried.

"Finn is right about the maintenance issues Captain; we need to get back home soon to do a full repair cycle soon. We can say on the hunt but there's the supply issue as I said, we had planned to get supplies from the Floating Markey before heading back to base." Danny Boy said with a worried look on his face. Hammerhead only snarled as he looked at the monitors around the room and started to think. _They're both right about that, a few days is all we can really last on this hunt. If the supply level is as bad as Danny Boy thinks it is then we will have to turn back soon but something about this is telling me that this is important!_ Hammerhead thought as he stood there as they chased after the Necktons.

Finn walked thought the sub as fumed as he moved as he thought about what they were doing. _Dad is so obsessed with getting what they have even when he doesn't know what it is. I get it, we're pirates but he's starting to become like Captain Ahab about this. Maddy's going right along with him but I'm not, I might be the only one in this family with a brain! I'm starting to wonder if sooner or later I'll have to make a choice if I can keep following the 'family business' or go out on my own._ Finn thought as he moved, those he walked by instinctually moved aside, each hoping they weren't the target of his anger. As he reached an intersection he turned and moved towards the moon pool and saw his sister sitting on a chair, a cooler with three medium sized fish in it next to her. A youthful face with black curly hair in a ponytail turned to him and he saw she was wearing her usual uniform; a black shirt with a red skull on it with black and red bracelets around her wrists and tan pants like him.

"Hey Finn, Danny Boy said it might be a good thing if I caught a few fish for our next meal, a few more and we'll have a nice supper tonight. We find the Necktons yet or did dad decide to go back to port?" The girl asked as Fin stared at her for a few seconds before he laughed and sat against the wall as he put one of his hands over his eyes._ Danny must have used the excuse to get me away from the bridge so me and dad wouldn't fight and maybe damage something we need to stay alive. I'll check the patch job we did on the intake and go grab a few cups of that coffee we got before we set out for him for when I head back up there._ Finn thought as he looked at his sister who was looking at him with a concerned look on her face.

"You okay Finn, your acting weird, weirder then you usually are." The girl asked as she looked at Finn who smiled bitterly.

"Never change Madeline, never change." Finn said only for Madeline to scoff at him and turn her head.

"Why would I change? I'm great! So what's dad doing?" Madeline asked, Finn just sighed and looked away from her before he spoke.

"We found them. We're within three hundred yards of them going closer and the sonar's on the fritz again. Thought I'd take a look on the patch work we did on the engine's broken intake vent. Did the water get any colder Maddie?" Finn asked as he moved towards a locker and took out a dive suit, frowning as he noticed a few marks on it that told him the insulation might be in danger of breaking. _We so need better wet suits, I've said it before and I'll say it again dad, we need to get better gear before we try to match the Nectons tech for tech._ Finn thought as a scowl grew on his face, but he went still when he heard his sister's replay.

"Actually Finn, it's getting warmer; it's increased by about five degrees in the last hour." Made Madeline said as Finn turned sharply and looked at a thermostat that showed the temperature of the water in the moon pool and knocked his hand against it a few times to check if it still worked right and frowned as he looked down at the water.

"There weren't any volcanoes or thermal vents on the maps around here, so then what could be causing the water to heat up are there?" Finn muttered to himself as he closed the locker and moved towards the doorway, pausing when he reached it. _I don't like this, we only came across the Aronnax by chance, we have no idea why there up here and the Orca has limits that are a lot less than the Aronnax. Gotta get back there and make sure dad doesn't kill us in his quest._ Finn thought as he turned back to look at his sister with a glare on his face that caused her to look at him.

"Maddie, get one more fish and make for the galley and remember to close the door **and** the pool when you leave. I'll be at the bridge; dad should know the water's getting warmer." Finn said before he moved towards the bridge at a dead run.

"So the temperature is rising, is that really that important?" Madeline asked out loud as she looked at the water and frowned not seeing anything wrong with it. _I could understand if it was something like a hundred or so, but a few degrees?_ Maddie thought as her fishing line got a bite causing her to smile as she fought to get more food.

"The outside temperature is rising, how? This is polar night; the top of the ocean is frozen over!" Will asked in shock as he and Ant clustered around Kicko and looked at the monitor as Fontaine sat at her station and kept an eye on the pod.

"No clue, could this be why the whales are up here, some kind of homing instinct for this time of year?" Ant asked only for Fontaine to call out.

"No recorded temperature increase here at this time of year in the past, I'm widening the search for anytime it might have increased, maybe I'll get a match sometime in the last few years that might line up with the whales migration. But if the World Ocean's never had anyone up here to track them finding anything might be harder than it sounds." Fontaine said as she started trying to find anything that could explain what was happening around them.

"Don't limit your search; look for anything, legends about this, old reports from mariners anyone that might have noticed something." Will said as he looked out the windows, and turned look at Kaiko's monitor and saw Ant with a thoughtful look on his face as he turned and walked back towards his own station. As Ant sat down and started to look over when the whales disappeared he called up all the information on the whales and started to grin as he realized what he was seeing. _So the dates of when the whales disappeared in the last year have no pattern but according to this data few if any ship have been in the area and none of them hade the sensors we do so they wouldn't have paid attention the water's temperature. _Ant looked around and cleared his throat and smiled at them when they turned to look at him.

"I checked the data Commander Pyrosome sent us; there has never been a ship around when the whales disappear, right? Because most people stay away when Polar night happens right?" Ant asked, causing Fontaine to look at him with a deadpanned look.

"Way to mention the obvious Ant, that's why we're here but what do you mean…Oh I see." Fontaine said as she gained a look of comprehension before Kaiko spoke up and Will gained a look of understanding on his face. _What there connected, this sounds like, then that means!_ Will thought as he moved towards his own station as he listened.

"So you think that whatever is causing the water to warm up might be a side effect of whatever happens to cause the whales to disappear?" Kaiko asked as she turned around, noticing Will had gotten to his station and was fanatically typing. _What is he; I don't have a good feeling about this._ Kaiko thought as she listened to her son.

"While there isn't a pattern there have been reports of ships making the track from Russia to Canada having an easier time than normal, those times line up with when the whales disappear, if the outside temperature is a factor then it's not so out there to think the two things are connected." Ant said as suddenly a floating screen with a red-haired man in glasses in a white lab coat and a purple shirt appeared on a floating screen in front of Kaiko's station.

"Nekton family, what seems to be…." He began before Will interrupted him.

"Sorry Professor no time to talk; we're switching to send only mode and powering down all data links, we might have stumbled onto that business. We'll contact you once we're done here." Will said as the man looked at him before Will cut the connection. His family looked at him as he turned and looked at Ant.

"Ant, I need you to activate the Ephemychron." Will said as he pressed a button and the Ephemychron rose from where they were keeping it safe since Alpheus had stolen.

"Will?" Kaiko asked but he stayed silent and looked at his son. Ant looked at him before picking it up and putting it into the holder on the bridge's map station. As he looked down at what was being displayed he and zeroed in on their current location. He jolted in place and stared at a symbol that they were near. As his family moved to stand around him he looked down in confusion.

"What is that?" Ant asked as he looked closer at the symbol, a circle with a hexagon with a its points pointed 'up and down' with a line going through it, a circle in the center of the symbol.

"'When the mouth opens, the giants come'. That was one of the passages of the Chronicles of the Deep that I found after that Blue Hole. It was describing something, I think this might have something to do with the whales." Will said as everyone looked at him.

"'The giants come.' The whales, they have to be the giants but what's the mouth?" Kaiko asked as they looked down at the map. Will looked thoughtful as he tried to work out their route in his head as he shook his head. Ant looked confused as he tried to figure out what this meant and how the whale would migrate to this place.

"We still don't know what is causing the migration, and then there's the fact we cut the connection, if Commander Pyrosome asks us about that and we said we would tell them what we found down here…." Kaiko said, only for Will to shake his head and look resolute at her.

"She would have to be aware of it first and all we promised was that we would look into this, if she asks why we went dark we'll tell her someone tried to hack us." Will said, turning when he felt the looks his family sent him.

"What, I know it's not perfect but we have to keep Lemura's existence quite for now until we decide if people should know about it." Will said as they looked at him. Fontaine only sighed and shook her head and tried to think about what the Chronicles could mean. _Mouth, mouth how could an open mouth be a natural formation that warrant mention in the Chronicles of the Deep. Think Fontaine you can figure this out. A mouth, wait what if this is the exact meaning of the word 'mouth'. When a mouth is open people ether eat or talk….Talk. _Fontaine thought as a smile grew on her face.

"THAT'S IT!" Fontaine exclaimed. She looked at front window and smiled as she understood just what the signal the whales were following was.

"Mom, the outside sensors we use to pick up whale songs and sonar, can you use them to check the subsonic range?" Fontaine asked as she looked at her mother who frowned before going to her station.

"At most we'll only be able to see if something is there, if we were connected to the library back at base then we might have been able to amplify it but without it. What are you thinking Fontaine?" Kaiko asked as she started to call up the programs to fine tune what they

"I was thinking about the word mouth, a mouth is used to eat or speak. Whales can hear underwater and sound can travel a long way in a liquid medium. What if this 'mouth' sends a signal that tells whales to come, but why they disappear I still can't figure out." Ant gained a inquisitive look on his face and opened his mouth before closing it and frowned.

"Even sound has a limit in how far it can travel in a liquid, how could they hear it all over the world on its own, unless it isn't on its own. The 'sound' might have something to help it." Ant said as Fontaine looked at him.

"I half expected you to tear my idea apart Ant, and what could help sound be heard all over the world?" Fontaine asked only for Ant to look at her with a deadpanned look.

"Why can't the Ephemychron be detected by metal detectors? Lemuria is involved, when we found the Minotaur's maze I threw away all expectations for them to have limits on what they could make or do." Ant said as Fontaine opened her mouth and closed it as she thought about just how old the maze was and what it could do.

"Your logic is completely sound." She said flatly as Kaiko looked up from her station and brought up a floating hologram screen that showed a sound graph and a low spike that beeped every thirty seconds.

"There is something, at about 6,500 Hz. And it's repeating." Kaiko said as Will joined her and looked down at the data and frowned.

"This is coming from straight ahead?" Will asked as he turned and met Kaiko's eyes who only nodded. Ant looked at the graph as he walked and stopped at Jeffrey's fishbowl and started going over what he knew about sound.

"Sound travels about 1500 meters a second, so once every thirty seconds would be around thirty miles away from us. But how could this be affecting whale migrations?" Ant asked as Fontaine looked around and sighed. _ He's right of course, how could these be affecting whales all over. I mean it's not like they can have…. Could they, could they have? If that's true then maybe, yes if you think about it in that light then it makes sense. If I could prove this, then oh man this could be the work of a life time. _ Fontaine thought as she looked up and swallowed as a few connections were made in her head.

"People are still arguing about how smart whales really are, let alone if they can 'talk' to each other. If they are smart enough to have a history, then maybe this is something, something that was passed down?" Fontaine asked with a sheepish expression on her face. Will just looked at his daughter and turned away, muttering to himself as he tried to find a fault in her explanation. _I never ever thought about that, if they are sentient enough to pass down knowledge then it would follow that a sign they remember could cause them to come to something they 'know', but what is this, what did the Lemurians find or make down here? _Will thought as he looked out the window and tried to think and figure that out based on what and where they had found Lemurian symbols.

"Or it could be like an eclectic lure, calling them to it." Ant said as he looked at his sister with an expression of complete disbelief

"Just think about how smart Jeffry is and apply that to whales Ant." Fontaine said as she looked her brother who opened his mouth and closed it as a defeated expression came over his face as he turned his head to look at Jeffry who glared at him causing him to chuckle sheepishly.

Kaiko looked back and giggled a little as she saw Ant's expression. _And that is one of the many reasons I'm so proud of Fontaine, she can defend her points in a way causes others to rethink about what they have against her by their own beliefs. If whales are intelligent then, I don't know, should we look into how the local fauna of an area when we investigate new symbols. But what is this? _Kaiko wondered as she steered the Aronnax after the whale pod and checked their speed.

"No matter what the reason is, the whales are moving towards the symbol. If I'm right then in a few hours we'll be there." Will said as Ant looked excited.

"This is great, we'll have a way to checkout another symbol off our list and find out what the whales are doing here!" Ant said as Fontaine sighed looked down at her watch her eyes widened and went over when her dad cu the connection to the outside and walked towards the bridge's doorway. Stopping at the door she turned and looked at her family over her shoulder.

"No matter what the reason is, the whales are moving towards the symbol. At the speed the pods going then if I'm right then in two hours we'll be there." Will says as Ant looked excited.

"This is great, we'll have a way to checkout another symbol off our list and find out what the whales are doing here!" Ant said as Fontaine sighed and walked back towards the bridge's doorway. Stopping at the door she turned and looked at her family over her shoulder.

"I'm going back to my room; call me when we're within a half hour from the source." Fontaine called out as she looked at her mother who caught her eyes and nodded.

"Have a nice nap Fontaine." Ant called out cheekily, only for Fontaine to scoff and walk through the door. She shook her head and moved towards the sleeping quarters, hoping that the program the Professor had helped her write would have caught all the messages in the chat rooms she was logged into before her dad shut off the outside link.

"I can get protecting us from hacking after what Alpheus did, but man do dad and Ant go overboard when they have a mind to." Fontaine said as she walked towards her room. _Still I'm glad dad gave me the go ahead to let the Professor make it so not to completely destroy my social life._ _Still I wonder if she left a message, I hope she's okay with all the chaos that happens in her city. _Fontaine thought as she reached her room and opened her door.

She entered a room with much like her brother's room with a vanity against the wall opposite her bed next to a bookcase full of books with a statue on top of a dolphin cresting a wave, set aganst it was her guitar in its case. She moved towards a computer on a table set against the wall and smiled when she started it up and saw two windows open. Reading the first she smirked a little.

"So no progress on the crush front, cousin you have to talk to him, not that I'm in any position to judge against that." She said out load as she blushed a little. She looked at the last window and saw a single message and went still as her blush turned into the glare of anger. She started to walk back and forth alongside her bed and started to curse.

"Of course that idiot is involved in this! And I can't say anything because Ant will get on my case for trust him and I don't know what dad will say about it!" Fontaine said as she reached her bed and grabbed a pillow on it and hugged it against her._ Okay you just need to be ready for what happens, and all I can do is hope that this isn't like the 'World's Biggest Waterfall and Giant Sea Worm'. If Hammerhead finds out about monumentals, then I don't know what he would do. He doesn't know what the Gateway really was and we don't but I have no good answer to this._ Fontaine thought as stopped at her door and sighed. She decided to sleep on it and turned towards her bed.

As Fontaine walked towards her bed the last chat was shown to have been sent out hours ago, on its own it was completely normal but Fontaine left it up as she went to bed. The message; Paladin Terry: Caught a zingel, expect to have it cooking soon shined from the monitor as she closed her eyes and her room's lights went out.

"Oh come on dad, this is ridiculous! The POLAR WATER'S TEMPRATURE IS RISING! THINK ABOUT THAT!" Finn exploded as Hammerhead looked impassively back at Finn. _Can't he understand, this is putting the crew in danger, Maddie in danger! The Nekton's are in a sub that's so far beyond ours it's not even funny!_ Finn thought as he locked eyes with his father who crossed his arms and met his stare.

"EXACTLY! THINK BOYO! If something this strange is happening then the Nektons would have stopped moving and tried to find out what's happening, but they've done nothing! That means they'll on the trial to something big and I want to be there so we can take it from them!" Hammerhead said with a knowing stare at his son._ I'll admit the water temperature did surprise me but I'll not let the ocean send me back without taking what the Nektons are after from them._ Hammerhead thought as he looked at Finn. Danny Boy looked at father and son and decided to cut in to keep them from coming to blows literally.

"The Captain's right, whatever their after has to be valuable if they're not stopping. And when we get it and sell it we can use the proceeds to really fix up the old girl." Danny Boy said causing Hammerhead to look at him only to see the look in his eyes. A few thoughts made connections in his head and he came to a resolution on how he would finish this confrontation.

"Danny's right, with whatever treasure we get the Orca well get a full refit! We'll put aside the rest for an emergency repair fund. And Finn, for the next hour you're confined to your cabin so go, now." Hammerhead declared as Finn only looked at his father with a hard look before he turned and walked off the bridge, slamming the door as he went.

Hammerhead sighed as he shook his head and looked at the closed door._ What am I going to do with that boy of mine? I just can't understand him. I know this is a long shot but a long shots payout a lot when you win'em. If we can get whatever the Nektons are looking for then it be a good day and I'll find some time to mend my relationship with Finn._ Hammerhead thought as he turned and looked at Danny.

"Raising kids is hard cap'n, even on land." Danny said as he looked at Hammerhead with an expression that held years of experience in it. Hammerhead grunted and nodded with a bitter smile on his face.

"Enough feeling sorry about things we can't change. Danny Boy, increase our speed and let's get closer to the _Aronnax_!" Hammerhead commanded and Danny saluted him. _No matter how Finn is I know that boy, he loves when we win and a good win here will bring us closer and hopefully start mending a few bridges between us._ Hammerhead thought as he looked at a monitor.

"Aye Cap'n! Increasing speed and moving closer to the prize!" Danny said with a grin as he worked the controls and the _Dark Orca_ moved closer to their quarry.

Finn walked towards his room, his expression full of anger as he moved. He couldn't believe his father sometimes. _I just can't understand him sometime, the temperature is raising, nothing makes sense that this could happen up here. The only way it could have happened is a volcano but there are none reported on any charts we have access to! And because the Nekton's aren't turning away in their high-tech sub with limits so far ahead of us that it's not even funny, Dad's going right after them with no thought to our limits!_ Finn thought as he walked and stopped at a door he opened.

He entered a room with a cot against a wall and a small circular table with a few books and a trumpet on it. He walked towards a desk and a computer set up on it and sighed when he saw the internet was down for him.He sighed and sat down on his cot and put his head down and closed his eyes._ Of course I can't check if she got my message, of course I can't. Dad's not budging and I have a strange feeling about this. If I'm right then something will change soon, I don't know what but something will._ _Maybe I'll finally figure out what the Nekotn's are after, dad always says that their acting the part of goodie two shoes, but that's just who they are. But I think he's right that their after something._ Finn thought as he lay there just letting his thoughts race.

He got up and started to walk back and forth in a circle as he tried to figure out anything, all kinds of things he could do being thought of and discarded as he stalked around his room._ Dad is convinced that this will help the band so he won't stop the hunt. Of course I can only hope she got my message but did she even see it? And I can't check to see what's happening in Paris because we're so far north._ Finn thought as he walked. As he thought he cursed what he was trapped by he went over other ways that his family could have used the _Dark Orca_ to make money or what treasures they could hunt down.

"We have enough gear for regular salvage, hunt down a few lost ships in the Med and we could probably make enough for a refit anyway. But dad wants to show up Will Nekton and that's that. Why the hell do we have to be pirates, couldn't we be salvagers instead?" Finn thought as he cursed his father's choice for their profession._ Come on Finn, you just have to keep your cool and eventually you'll have your own sub and your be able to do what you want, carry legal cargoes and treasure hunt until you have a nice reputation and…maybe a wife who loves the sea as much as you do._ Finn walked over to his computer, deciding to use the rest of his confinement by working on a few old translations to a few harbor masters logs, hoping to find a clue to any lost ancient ships, all the while trying to not let his father's actions bother him too much.

A knock at his door caused him to turn his head and curse when he noticed he had been in there working on his translation for a good fifty five minutes. Looking at his progress he smiled as he read over what he had written down and smirking slightly closed his files.

"It's unlocked!" He called as he turned to the door and saw his sister who walked into his room and dropped onto his bed before she looked at him.

"So dad sent you to your room again because you raised a stink about the water temperature, I still don't see why that's important!" Madeline said with a huff as she crossed her arms and looked at Finn. Finn smirked as he shook his head and sent a knowing grin at his sister.

"Yeah he did, what trying to get grounded too by breaking quarantine little sis?" Finn asked as he motioned to the camera outside his door. Maddie gave him a look that questioned his intelligence and a dead look in her eyes.

"The camera's lens needs to be replaced and the wires need to be reconnected, it's just ornamental right now." Madeline said as Finn looked at the camera and noticed the loose wires and cracked lens and sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"We so need to get back to base to repair this crate. And why'd you come to see me anyway?" Finn asked as Madeline looked at him.

"I came to find out why this is so important to you. Why is the temperature so important Finn, so the water's warmer, so what?" Madeline asked as Finn looked at her.

"The heat has to come from somewhere Maddie, and it's Polar Night, the suns down and the surface is pitch black, and this deep where is it coming from? It could be dangerous and it might be bad enough to threaten if we'd **live** through finding it!" Finn said as his sister looked at him. _I don't get it, I mean there are a lot of ways the water could have gotten hotter, but he's worried for nothing. _Madeline thought as she looked at her brother.

"Come on Finn, when we were at Loki's Castle we were right above a magma pool and the Orca was barely hotter than normal. We can handle this and then we can get back to base and repair this tub!" Madeline said as she grabbed Finn hand. He only looked at her and sighed before smirking.

"Fine Maddie, I'll lay off for now, but when I'm proving right I reserve the right to say I told him so." Finn said as his sister led him out of the room.

Fontaine walked onto the bridge and sighed as she saw the sound graph was still up and was still up. She walked to her family and kept quiet until she saw behind her father.

"How often do we hear it now?" At Fontaine's question Will turned and smiled at her, an excited look on his face.

"Once every five or so seconds, we're so close I can particle taste it! A little more time and we can…" Will began before Kaiko interrupted him with.

"We've got movement; the whole pod is rising to the surface." Kaiko said as they all turned towards the front. A screen popped up, showing the position of the whales in relation to the _Aronnax_ and it was as Kaiko said. As they watched Ant looked at the whales and noticed based on their sizes that the few younger ones were grouping around the oldest members of the pod. _That's strange, are they gathering together because their…scared? Was Fontaine right, are they sapient? If they have emotions, oh man oh man why do I think I just figured out what she's going to be studying for the rest of her life? _Ant thought as he looked at the screen. Fontaine had been watching as well and had noted the movement of the smaller whales and was already jolting done notes on her tablet and looking excited at what she was seeing.

"So found a new research subject?" Ant asked as he walked over and looked down at her tablet. Fontaine kept her eyes on the screen and nodded at her brother.

"I'll say, it'll be hard but if I can get enough evidence I could change their classification, I could change the world, I mean look at Jeffrey." Fontaine said as she gestured to Jeffrey floating in his tube. He was looking at them and did a flip and seemed to be smiling at them. Ant chuckled and smiled.

"Well the Mermaid Knight will help you 'see' their echoes, maybe you'll learn something." Ant said as Fontaine gained a look of shock before she started to grin as she got inspired and her mind made connections. _Could it be, sound and echolocation might make up their language, we use all our sense to communicate and if they do to then you have to account for that as well, dolphins might too! _Fontaine thought as a thousand possibilities went through her head.

"When we get back to base, I am so working with Professor Fiction on giving my knight a refit. There are a lot of upgrades I want now that I can think of them." Fontaine said as Ant nodded at him.

"Yeah, I've been talking to the Professor about retrofitting new legs for the Shadow Knight anyway, I so want to walk on land with it." Ant said causing Fontaine to giggle lightly as Ant smirked. _My brother, always trying to find a way to get better, and _

"They'll diving, all of them, the entire the pod is diving!" Kaiko said suddenly, causing them all to turn and look at the monitor. The whales were all diving, the oldest and largest leading the way. Will looked at the whales and paled as he realized what was happening.

"Increase speed, get closer to the pod! This must be where they disappear, they'll going down. And if they're going somewhere then I want to go there too!" Will said, Kaiko nodding at his cry as Will and Fontaine ran to their stations and put on their seatbelts.

"Hang on, this is going to be very fast!" Kaiko said as she increased the subs speed, the _Aronnax_ lurching forward and if they hadn't been seating down, the speed might have caused them to fall over. As the _Aronnax_ dived after the whales and the distance closed, Fontaine called up all the information on the tracker and released a sigh of relief that they could still pick it up.

As the _Aronnax_ dived down the whales swam lower and lower, the outside lights of the sub still too far away to see them. As Fontaine kept her eyes on the monitor she held onto her chair, praying that the whales would stop diving soon. As the _Aronnax_ leveled out Fontaine let out the breath she was holding.

"They've stopped diving down, their swimming free and moving at a good clip, at our speed we should reach them in minutes." Kaiko said as Ant grumbled and put his head onto his folded arms.

"And people say that a roller-coaster ride is the fast thing outside of a space shuttle ride?" Ant muttered, causing Fontaine to giggle before she looked at her screen and cursed when she saw that they had lost the tracker.

"We've lost it; the tracker's signal is gone!" Fontaine exclaimed as her fingers flew over the computer and started to call up the last position of the tracker. Will looked up in shock and Kaiko increased their speed as Ant ran to Fontaine's station.

"What, how close were we when it disappeared?" Will asked as he tried to figure what had happened.

"We were within five miles of the pod and I have the last location relative to us, we should see it soon." Fontaine said as she finally found what she was looking for and relayed what she had found.

"Five miles isn't too far, should we send out the drones when we within a mile from the location, try to find anything?" Ant asked as he looked at the screen of Fontaine's monitor. _What could have happened, they just disappeared! 'When the mouth opens', what could that mean, wait is the sound? _ Fontaine thought as she turned to the front of the bridge.

"Wait the sound! Are we still detecting it?" Fontaine asked as everyone tried to figure out what they should do next, Kaiko jolted and looked at her monitor and nodded.

"We're still detecting it, the whales didn't affect it with whatever they did. So we can, what in the world? The temperature is climbing, the closer we get, the hotter the water becomes, it's already around 100 degrees Celsius and still rising, what is this, a volcanic vent or something else?" Kaiko asked rhetorically, but Fontaine looked thoughtful and turned to her father who had the same look on his face as he puzzled out his thoughts.

"'When the mouth opens, the giants come'. If the giants are whales then is the mouth a volcano, no how would it 'close' and 'open'? Well, we should be where the whales were in there seconds right?" Will asked as Kaiko nodded and looked at her monitor and tried to figure out what was happening.

"This is insane, how oh, now it makes sense." Kaiko said dumbly as she looked ahead, causing the others to look up as well and stare. The lights from the _Aronnax_ revealed an undersea mountain that was bent towards them, the point of if just above to an undersea volcano next to the mountain, and fifty feet above the volcano was an open stone gate set into the mountain that was large enough for the _Aronnax_ to turn in a circle and still not touch the sides.

"That might be the mouth, but how does it call the 'giants'? And are we going in with the Knights or the _Aronnax_?" Fontaine asked, causing her family to turn and Will to smirk before Kaiko spoke.

"Full stop, send in the drones first and then we'll follow. Fontaine, the data the commander sent us about this, how long due the whales stay away before they return?" Kaiko asked as Fontaine started to look for what she asked, while Ant sent one of their drones towards the tunnel. As a hologram screen appeared in front of Kaiko's station and showed what the drone was seeing and as it passed the gate it shined its lights into darkness and revealed a steep drop.

"About two days, so if we go in for a few hours we should be safe." Fontaine said as she looked up and stared into the darkness of the tunnel. Will locked eyes with Kaiko and raised one of his eyebrows as she looked at him and she turned to Ant who was looking at the tunnel as he touched the window and sighed.

"A few hours only then we go back out and chart this location and come back if we can figure out the pattern to when this is opened. Otherwise it's just another data point to finding Lemuria." Kaiko said as Ant looked at her before cheering and Will laughed a little, even Fontaine smiled as she heard what her mother said.

"This is perfect; I don't think anyone is around. No pirates and no Alpheus, just us and a Lemurian ruin to explore!" Ant said with a large smile on his face as his father rubbed his head and laughed. With the fact she was behind them no one saw Fontaine smile before her face fall as she realized the message she had received earlier and what it meant. _Just another day as a Nekton…. Oh great, I almost forgot, the wonderful Captain Hammerhead is probably going to come after us, I wonder if they'll finally figure out what we're hiding?_ Fontaine thought as she looked at the window and smiled darkly. As the _Aronnax_ moved towards the gate their never even detected the _Dark Orca_ as they followed their prey.

"A tunnel and gate underwater, what the, how the, when the? Who could have created something like that, this is impossible!" Hammerhead said as he looked at the Araonnax as it moved into the mountain. Danny Boy, Madeline and Finn were all on the bridge and staring at a monitor that showed the undersea mountain ahead of them and the volcano. _I have seen some strange things over my time at sea but this is impossible. Almost as impossible as those fool's lie about…!_ Hammerhead went still as the reality of what he was seeing hit him.

"This is imposable, as imposable as that lie…it's not a lie? Then that mean that, that's it. THAT'S WHAT THEY HAVE! Proof of it, they found it and didn't tell anyone, they must have been hunting for the mother lode and that must be where this is!" Hammerhead exclaimed as he looked at the screen as facts made connections in his head and he finally understood what the Nekons had found at the Gateway.

"What are you talking about, what is this dad?" Madeline asked as Hammerhead grinned and started to laugh before answering.

"LEMURIA! The whole Nekton family has been searching for it for years! I always thought it was a smoke screen for them to hunt treasure but it's _real_. Artifacts from an unknown culture, can you just think how much rich fools would pay for them! Danny Boy, full spead ahead, let's chase after them!" Hammerhead said with an evil leer as Maddie joined in laughter as Danny piloted the _Dark Orca_ after the Araonnax. Finn only stared blankly as he tried to keep his thoughts off his face as he looked at his family. _An ancient civilization that vanished so completely people don't even remember it, that is something! And she's know her family's goal all along and every time I talked to her about she never even let a hint, even when I told her Madds got a picture of her father's safe, what a woman! I have to find some reason to split off and find her when we get in there!_ Finn thought as he walked forward and put his hand on his father's shoulder.

"Then full speed ahead, all lights on and let's go! I don't want to let them get all the treasure before us!" Finn said causing Hammerhead to look at him and grinned, started to laugh and clapped him on the shoulder.

"NOW THAT'S MY BOY! You heard Smiling Finn Danny Boy, ahead full let's see where they're going! And whatever they'll after is ours for the taking!" Hammerhead command as Madeline started to laugh.

"Oh lets beat 'em! I can't wait to stand over that little idiot and laugh as we ride away in their fancy pants sub!" She said as she grinned and started to imagine just that. Finn spared a glance at her and turned back to the monitors and called up the view from below and frowned when he saw that the volcano looked like the lava was hardening, he could see a ring of stone around the volcano's mouth and frowned._ Why on earth does that give me a bad feeling? I really hope this isn't our swan song._ Finn thought as he looked at the monitor as the _Dark Orca_ passed through the gate and went downward after the Nektons.

"FINN, GET THE BOYS READY! As soon as we're there I want them to start searching the area around our docking and bring back anything they find. Madeline go and check on how much plunder we can take! And remember, out of everything you find you can keep one thing!" Hammerhead called as he looked forward. _I can't wait until I can finally prove that I'm there better, after this time I'll finally win._ Hammerhead though as he started to chuckle as his eyes glazed over.

Finn looked at his father as he grinned and his eyes were glazing into space and moved away with Madeline following behind him and shared a look with him as soon as they left the room.

"So think we'll find something good here?" Madeline asked causing Finn to sigh. For a few seconds he was conflicted about what he would do but he decided to put all his experience towards helping.

"We don't know how old this site might be but maybe a million years old at least. A few pottery pieces maybe, make sure the crates are set up to wrap whatever we find tightly, this way they won't break. I'll get the crew ready and we'll be in the mess hall suited up, that way we'll be able to make for the tower or the pool if we don't dock somewhere." Finn said as Madeline nodded and darted forward and hugged him before running off. Finn looked after her before dashing towards where the rest of the crew would be, ready to do his part for now.

Madeline ran through the sub and smirked. _All we have to do is find something that's valuable enough to auction off for a good price and we'll be able to get a lot of repairs done. I don't know why Finn's been different lately but a good score is just what we need to bring us back together! _She thought as she reached the storage compartment. Going inside she started to look around and frowned.

"Now where the heck did we leave the padding form last time?" Madeline asked as she looked around and tried to remember.

Will looked at the sonar map they had made so far and smiled. After they had entered the tunnel they had picked up the tracker and moved downward after the whales and found them after about twenty minutes. So far they had traveled at least a mile down before they had leveled out and gone straight following the tunnel. _This is amazing, somehow the whales are moving faster through the tunnels then on in the open ocean, and we haven't seen any remains. This is unprecedented behavior and if they 'remembered this' then that raises a lot of questions._ Will thought as he looked around with a smile but he frowned when he saw Fontaine's expression as she looked over her own monitor and walked over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder and moving his head closer to her. She looked up and saw her father in the reflection of the monitor and sighed.

"What's wrong?" He muttered as he looked at the monitor that showed the whales were moving and frowned when he notice they were moving upwards.

"We started to go upward about ten minutes ago, I don't know where we're going but the whales will be out of breath soon. Dad, what if whatever this is, the whales just die?" Fontaine asked with a forlorn expression on her face as Will looked at her. _If they are intelligent then I don't think that would happen. But if they're not and this is something Lemuria created to harvest whales how could they remove the bodies? We'll see at the end and soon_. Will thought as he patted Fontaine's shoulder.

"Have faith in our ancestors Fontaine, I doubt they made this to kill whales." Will said before he walked to stand next to Kaiko who looked up at him.

"Will, what's wrong?" She asked as he looked at her and looked out the bridge's window at the tunnel.

"How much longer do you think they can last, until they need to breathe again?" Will asked as Kaiko looked at the whales and frowned as she really thought about it.

"Soon, very soon it's been about what, seventy minutes since they dived down and swam into the tunnel. I hope this isn't a death dive. But the water, it's what you would expect in the tropics, the tunnel seems to keep heat in but where's it coming from?" Kaiko said as Will looked at the outside temperature gauge in confusion. He looked at the windows but before he could speak an exclamation from Ant at the front caused them to look forward

"There's light ahead, a lot of it!" Ant exclaimed as the others turned and saw beams of light pierce the darkness ahead of them, the whales casting shadows as they swam towards it. As they looked at the whales as they swam upwards Will looked on with awe.

"This is imposable; we're at least two miles down, how in the world is there light here and oxygen? What could they have built here and how could they have built it?" Will said as Ant and Fontaine joined him in looking upwards as Jeffry looked on from his bowl. Will looked confused as thoughts raced through his head before a hope started as his heart beat increased as he stared upwards.

"Could this be it, is this Lemuria?" Will asked softly as Ant and Fontaine looked at him before Ant started to grin as he turned to the window and stared upwards as Fontaine gained a thoughtful look.

"This is Lemuria, could we have really found it?" Ant asked as Fontaine looked out the window and shook her head.

"No, I think it's too far off from the rest of the world, and how would they have gotten so deep? This might be a Lemurian ruin and maybe a city but their capital, I don't think so." Fontaine said as she looked at the others and tried to organize her thoughts. Ant looked down and his grin had died before a thoughtful look blossomed in its place.

"But if Lemuria's cities were in places like this, then maybe that's why people never found any evidence." Ant said as he looked at his father who had listened to his children and nodded at Ant's thought and decided to speak.

"It might be either of them, but with the Ephemychron we don't know how they could use it to navigate and then there's the fact we don't know anything about their ships themselves." Will said as Ant gained a thoughtful look.

"I see where you're going, if they could make something like the Ephemychron then who knows what kind of ships they could make, or how fast they could move." Ant said as Kaiko listened and thought about everything she had seen, from the maze and its holograms still working after thousands of years to the Ephemychron that they still didn't know how it was powered and wondered about those principles applied to ships._ If we can find something here, if we find something we can give to the Professor and Lester to take apart, then maybe we'll find answers to a few questions. _Kaiko thought as she made a choice.

Will looked at the water's surface and frowned. _This could be it, this could be a Lemurian city, but it was so far north, how could an ancient people have constructed a city here and the whales, how do they fit in? Do I dare put my family in danger to find the answers? _Will thought before he felt the _Aronnax _rise towards the surface. Turning to Kaiko he saw her with a wide grin on her face as she looked at his dumfounded expression.

"We can spend all the time in the world asking what if; let's see what's up there and confront it!" She said as Will just chuckled as he looked at the window, waiting for his first glimpse of what might have been one of his ancestor's cities. As the water moved off the window as they breached the surface Will took a deep breath as Ant started yelling excitedly as Fontaine pressed her head against the window to try to get closer to it, something about it was calling to her, Ant and Will.

"Incredible. Simply incredible." Will said as he looked out the window and put his hands on his children's shoulders as Kaiko joined them.

The cavern they entered was extremely large, maybe as big as thirty miles long and three miles high. At the center of the chamber was an island about twenty miles circular with a large aqua purple pyramid at the center of a city made of purple stones. At the top of the cavern was a large crystal sphere that was the source of the light that was shining down, looking around Will saw the whale pod was floating and seemed to be moving on top as they swam towards a mile wide rock gate set against the cavern wall next to a castle keep. Will looked out the window, excited beyond words that they had a real ruin to safely explore without risks to their life.

"Where's the air coming form, this is underground and completely isolated, so how can they breath?" Fontaine asked as Will went cold as he realized the truth in her words. Turning to Kaiko they shared a look before she dashed back to her station and started to check the outside monitors and stared in shock.

"It's like we're on the surface, but how could this be? And the solar collectors are active, whatever that crystal is it's just putting out light that's just like the sun!" Kaiko asked as Will looked at her in shock before he smiled. _That's great, the air will make it so much easier to explore and the light will make sure we have power if we're stuck here. Still we should find something before we leave; maybe a few of their inventions, the Professor would love that._ Will thought before he spoke.

"So we'll be able to explore this place at our leisure, at least until the whales start to leave." Will said with a smile only to for it to drop when Kaiko looked at him with a glare.

"You don't understand Will, the oxygen level is exactly the same as the surface, if this is a completely closed system then the oxygen levels would be higher, too high for us to survive!" Kaiko said as Will looked shocked at her outburst before realizing that she was right, at high enough levels oxygen was a poison.

"Then that's another mystery that we have to solve about the Lemurian Civilization." Will Said as he looked over the cavern, his eyes looking at the city in the distance and he felt his smile split his face at the mysteries to unravel._ This is wonderful, finally a true ruin that we can look over and try to find the way to Lemuria._ Will looked over and notice Ant was looking concerned as something about it bothered him.

"Ant?" Will asked as Ant looked at him, Ant looked at his father and waved him off and walked to the periscope and activated it, he looked through it and stumbled backwards before looking at it again. _Oh man, I was hoping I was wrong but I wasn't. What happened when this culture fell, I knew I had a bad feeling about this._ Ant thought as he gathered his thoughts about how to tell his family what he had discovered.

"I don't think Nereus knows everything about why people left Lemuria." Ant said as he walked back towards his family.

"Why, what'd you see Ant?" Kaiko asked as Ant stopped next to Jeffry's tube and looked at the window with a look of worry.

"The buildings are in ruins, not from age but from battle or someone attacked them." Ant said, Will turned his head in flash to look at him before looking at the window at the city. If what Ant had seen was true, then he was really starting to worry about what else might be in the ruined city. _We knew that something caused them to abandon Lemuira, but was it a civil war, a war against an external enemy? I just hope that we find something here or Nereus can tell us what he knows when I see him next._ Will thought as they looked at the city's shoreline, and noticed a marina along the shore facing the whales, he could see what looked like wrecks here and there and nodded, that was what they needed.

"There, we go there and check it out and we find anything along the shore line we can, then we get out of here as soon as the whales start to leave." Will said as he pointed at the harbor and his family followed his arm and Kaiko nodded.

"The _Aronnax_'s has breached the surface of where ever we are captain, should I follow them up?" Danny asked only for Hammerhead to send him a look that questioned his intelligence. Danny looked down and away before Hammerhead spoke again.

"No, keep us down and follow them. I want us to dock somewhere away from them, we take everything we can then get out of here, we'll come back after we resupply and get all the treasure this place has to offer us." Hammerhead said as his eyes saw nothing but the profit that they would take from this place. Finn walked into the bridge and stayed in the back and watched as he looked on.

"Their moving towards what looks like a marina, what do you want us to go Cap'n?" Danny asked as Finn shoved his way forward and looked through the periscope and looked at the shoreline and smiled at something he saw. _Perfect, there might be something for dad to take and I can slip away and try to get to the Nektons and talk to her. Of course if her brother finds me I'll just say that dad sent me to take a look at them. _Finn thought as he looked away and glanced at his father and smirked with an artificial viciousness to it.

"I found what looks like a harbor and dock about three miles from where the Nektons are going, and there's a tall wall to keep us from sight. If there's anything left t, I think we'd be able to find a lot of good thinks to sell at the Floating Market." Finn said with a greedy leer on his face as his father looked at him.

"Good thinking boyo! Danny boy take us there and get the boys get ready to take anything they can find that looks ancient and valuable!" Hammerhead exclaimed as Danny directed the _Dark Orca_ towards the harbor. _Oh the chance to get something to hold over the Nektons is too much; this is going to be one of the greatest days of my life_. Hammerhead thought as he noticed Finn was still standing around and looked at him when he spoke up

"The Nektons might prove a problem Cap'n, maybe I should go and keep an eye on them." Finn suggested as the Orca moved closer to the dock. Hammerhead looked confused for a few seconds before he nodded.

"Oh aye, I can just see the Nektons coming at us in those knights o theirs, good idea Smiling Finn! If they even look like they'll coming at us you tell me at once!" Hammerhead said as Danny shook his head before he suddenly gasped, causing them to turn to look at him in confusion. He was staring at the front window as they looked out Finn started to get a sinking feeling._ That looks like a blast pattern, but I can't tell what hit it. I have a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling._ Finn thought before Danny started to speak.

"Cap'n, we're coming into the dock but its looks like somebody fought a war here." Danny said as he looked at the approaching shoreline. Finn crowded next to his father as the two of them looked at out the window. The dock they were approaching looked like something had blasted it with heavy canons and something had torn the place apart, something big. Hammerhead looked at the screen and frowned as thoughts raced through his head, hundreds of place he had seen before and after…_unpleasantness _had happened over the years and his eyes went hard as he looked at the harbor.

"I haven't seen such in years, not since I joined up with the crew." Danny said as he looked at Hammerhead who nodded back at him and sank into old memories. He nodded at that and gathered his thoughts as he looked into space._ If whatever happened was as bad as something I've seen over the years then maybe, no it had to have been at least a thousand years, but why do I think we should be armed? Better safe than sorry._ Hammerhead thought as he turned to his son.

"Have one in three of the men armed with a launcher, everyone in a wetsuit and take a radio and a saber with 'em, and Finn you too, and you don't leave until we check the area around our birth here." Hammerhead said calmly. Finn looked at his father and nodded, all his instincts screaming at him to grab a weapon and charge into the city towards the _Aronnax_ and make sure Fontaine was okay. _Take it easy and think, whatever happened here happened a long time ago, whatever the problem was it has to have been dead by now._ Finn thought as he looked at his father.

"Aye Aye captain!" Finn said as he turned and moved towards the armory and would grab his saber before he told the orders to the rest of the crew. He had only had to use his skill with a blade a few times, mostly at the tournaments at New Tortuga and defend the crew and his family from scum, this would be the first time he felt he had to carry it to be safe exploring a ruin. All in all he just hoped that while he felt he had to take it with him, he just didn't need it before the Orca and the _Aronnax_ left this place, this strange gateway to the past.

Fontaine got onto the peer the Aronnax had stopped next to in the white colored White Knight. The knights were humanoid underwater exo-frames that her family had created to help them with underwater activates, the White Knight being the oldest and most basic. All the knights had pressurized cockpit in the front and secondary arms above with 'gloves' for the person operating the knight to slide their arms into attached to the windowed cockpit the person got into. She smirked as she remembered how learning to operating the knights had been fun, and her parents had set an age limit like learning to drive. Her father climbed on in the yellow Mag Knight with its large torso and oversized hands, its strength was perfect for the underwater salvage it was designed form and with Ant climbing up in the green Swamp Knight with Jeffery in the fish tank backpack he called the jorange attached to the front of the knight.

"I still think you should have left Jeffry behind Ant." Fontaine said through the radio as Ant looked around through the Knight's window. Ant didn't pay attention to what his sister said as he knelt next to one of the wrecks and saw blue lines alongside it. The boat or whatever had a wide hull like a speed boat and unlike most ancient boats he didn't see any sigh of a mast. Looking around he saw smaller boats with the largest was at least thirty feet long.

"I think this place was for either pleasure or a fishing dock, what do you think?" Ant asked as he looked at Will. Will shot one of the magnetic cables at the wreck and frowned when the cables failed to stay connected to the hull. He frowned as he looked around before replaying.

"I think so but what are they made of, wood would have wasted away after all the years, I mean wouldn't it. But then this place is sealed but where does the air come from?" Will muttered as he looked at the readings his knight was detecting. Fontaine looked over the readings she was getting and sighed the last of the tests on the air were sent to her from the _Aronnax_.

"The air is clean dad, no pathagens detected, it seems well 'fresh' is the only word I can use really." Fontaine said as she looked around and noticed a few places here and there that large front windows making her think of ocean side stores. She walked towards them as her dad debated with Ant how to bring two of the smaller 'boats' onto the Aronnax to take back with them. Fontaine looked into the window of a building with a pictogram of a golden fish of somekind above the door and saw small stone tables with decaying chairs here and there and a large counter and a doorway into a back room. _An old fashion café, then this place was for more than just fishing. So the Lemurians were like us as we currently were?_ _I think I should look in that mansion I saw when we were coming into port, might find something._ Fontaine thought as she walked away from the dock as she walked into the city, intent on what she was looking at, never noticing something had watched them dock and one of them was stalking her.

"Maybe you could submerge the sub go enough for us to put it into the helicopter dock?" Will asked Kaiko as Ant looked around and looked towards the pyramid in the distance. As he looked at it a strange feeling came over him as he walked off.

"Hey dad, Fontaine walked off, I'm going to find her. And maybe we should send a few drones up, just to get a bird's eye view." Ant said as he turned the Swamp Knight towards the pyramid and walked off. Will spent a few more minutes muttering to himself as he was looking at the boat and smiled at last.

"I got it, Ant, Fontaine, I'll need the both of your help to move this thing. Fontaine, since the Swamp Knight is stronger than the White Knight….Ant, Fontaine, where'd you go?" Will asked as he looked up and looked around and started to curse as soon as he realized that both Ant and Fontaine was gone.

"Tell me Fontaine and Ant didn't walk off on their own Will?" Kaiko asked as Will started to chuckle lightly. Shaking her head on the bridge Kaiko sent three drones up, one she shot straight up the next she sent towards the whales and the last she programed to patrol the area around the area to boost the signal.

"This is the _Aronnax_ to all Nektons, come back with locations now!" Kaiko said into the radio as Will winced from the sound of her voice._ She's mad. But I can't blame her since I put all my focus on this boat that I didn't notice either of them leaving until they were both gone. _Will thought as he looked around, hoping to see some sign of their departure.

"Ant here, I'm walking towards that pyramid, something in that direction, I just need to get to it." Ant's voice came over the speaker and Will sighed with relief. Before he could speak Fontaine reported in.

"Fontaine here, I'm heading for a walled complex on the right side, it looks like a high class residential so I'm looking to see if there's anything here to recover." Fontaine said as Will looked at the boat he had paid so much attention to.

"Well, this is great. All of you were so intent on your own problems that you all let yourself split up. Fontaine come back to us as soon as you're done, Ant be careful and don't go too far, we might have to leave in a hurry if the whales dive." Fontaine heard Kaiko over the radio as she walked towards a walled structre.

"Got it mom, I've reached the complex, looking for a doorway now." Fontaine said as she looked at the wall and looked at a tree that had pink blossoms on the few branches that went over the wall. Finally she found a broken door way and walked into the yard, seeing a large two story house built of the same purple stone that the rest of the city was made of in a kind of middle eastern style with a balcony around the front of the second story with pictograms of blue humans wielding weapons. The tree was one of three, two by the gate she had walked into and the third by the right side of the house, each of them had their lower branch full of purple flowers with three in five had a strange gold berry in the flower's center. As she looked around the stalker she had picked up moved closer to her as she got out of the White Knight and walked towards the house with a look of wonder as she looked around at the strange pictograms.

Finn had slipped away once the crew was sure that the air was breathable and the newest recruit had been used as a test case. The warehouse had crates of a strange pottery and plates in them, most of them were damaged by whatever had happened here but enough had been found intake that it might be sold for a pretty penny with a few blocky statues here and there that his father was laughing about selling. Madeline had taken a few of the crew towards the right and a street that had been marked on a map on the wall of the what had been an office of some kind while he had gone straight towards the Nektons. His dad had told him to be ready and watch his back but he had only been partly listening as he had run off with the sword at his side. As he ran he looked at the purple stone buildings and marveled at the construction. _For a place that looks like it was attacked this is amazing! And the time this place must have been abandoned and left to the elements is…. I just can't believe this place, I just hope when the Nektons tell people about this I'm still around._ Finn thought as he moved through the city, his mind trying to think about what this place was like when it had been _alive_.

"This is amazing; this place is must have been something when it was inhabited." Finn muttered to himself as he looked at the buildings and stopped, looking back and along the other side of the street and frowned when he saw the same thing, wide windows looking into store fronts, each with a pictogram of something on it, one was of green books, another was of black statues. As he walked he stopped and _felt_ something from one of the buildings, shaking his head to clear it he looked at one with a pictogram of a jeweled pendent above a door and he stepped through the door beneath it. He looked about saw a the remains of a what might have been glass cases and walking towards the back he saw a small box on the side next to a doorway, the box looked big enough to put in two rings. Picking it up, he opened it and saw two rings of a silvery metal with a pure white diamond cut gemstone in the center of each ring and strange writing on the inside.

He smiled as he closed the box and opened the door and saw a pile of raw gemstones on a stone bench, what might have been the remains of a stool next to it. He grabbed a few of the smaller pieces and put them in his wetsuits pockets, he turned walked out of the building, only stopping to marked the building with a black skull so one of the crew could come later and grab the rest of them. _If we have times Dad can send people here to get the other gems and if not then this is my part of the catch, the rings could be my salvage, I'll tell dad it's a keepsake, I wonder if Fontaine would like the twin. _Finn thought as a blush formed on his face before he fought it down. He as he walked, he turned a corner and went still, there were green skeletons on the ground ahead of him.

Finn dashed to the closest one and looked it over in a rush. The skeleton he was examining was wearing blue armor with a few scraps of fabric here and there on the remains and what looked like tattered black boots on its feet. The other remains looked the same with a few skeleton without armor dressed in ragged pieces of fabric father down an alley, some of them with limbs blown off.

"Okay, not the worst you've seen over the years, they attacked from where, wait from there? How the hell could, I mean usually it's the other way around but it's not? I'll chalk that as a mark that this might have been a civil war and leave it at that….what?" Finn muttered as he noticed one of the blown away bones and paled when he realized it had been chewed on and the marks were a different color then the rest of the bone, showing a clear sign that it had happened recently. _This looks like! What could have used the bone and not taken it to its lair? And more importantly it is still around?_ Finn thought as he reached for his radio.

"This is Finn to all points, Dad, Maddie are you there?" Finn said into it as he got up and ran towards where the Nektons, trying not to let the worse thing possible play out behind his mind.

"FINN! I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO STAY OFF THE RADIO UNLESS THEY SAW YOU! IF THE NEKTONS ARE MONITORING-"Hammerhead thundered before Finn cut in.

"LISTEN TO ME! I found corpses, skeletons really but they've been chewed on, and it was recent enough for the chew marks to be visible! I'm beating feet to warn the Nektons, because I know you want Will Nekton alive to gloat over, and we do owe them for the trouble with that giant eel." Finn said as he dashed past a building and looked around, seeing less remains and signs that something had dragged them away.

"Madeline here, the group I'm leading found some kind of main street, nothing remarkable here and we started to check out this big building with a gate, nothing but empty rooms and no bodies so far." Madeline said over the radio as Finn heard his father splutter.

"Mad Madeline, finish sweeping and get back here to help bring in the crates we've found, Smiling Finn, warn them and the same but don't stick your neck out. But all of you be safe!" Hammerhead growled, causing Finn to smile._ No matter what dad says this proves he doesn't want the Nektons to die, he wants to imprison them sure but he doesn't want them dead. _Finn thought as he ran, never hearing something jump and move towards the last radio signal.

Madeline looked around at the pirates she had brought and frowned, Finn's message was making all of them jump at shadows and that was something she hated. _Of course Finn would have all the luck and find a corpse to loot! Of course when I found a place like this with the doors blown off, I mean you'd expect some carnage here._ Madeline thought as she moved through the hallway and led the way into a room with what looked like the remains of stone beds on them. She gestured to the few cabinets in the room and walked towards one that while it was in ruins it still seemed to be of a higher class. Looking into the draws she found a few headbands with blue gems above where a person's eyes would be. _Might be worth something, but not anything, still one of them might be a good bit of personal lot to take, might look good on me._ Madeline thought as she put the headbands into pouches on her wetsuit and looked at the others who had found similar items and led the way back out into the hallway.

Looking out a window they passed she looked at the water in the cavern and frowned. _I can guess that this place was natural, but where'd the crystal come from? If we could find the just how to find more of them we'd be able to sell them to New Tortuga, would give them a good light source they don't need to power. _Madeline thought as she led the way down the hall and stopped at a door when one of the pirates cleared his throat, turning she snarled at him.

"Hey Mad Madeline, shouldn't we head back?" One of the three pirates she had brought with her trailed off as she glared at him and slammed her fist into the door, breaking the wood she snarled at them before a breeze hit her from the hole she made, looking through it she saw a staircase leading upwards and smirked. _Maybe that would work, yes that good. And maybe I'll be lucky enough to see something to checkout like Finn did. _Madeline thought as she nodded her head.

"We'll take a look around on top and see if we can find anyplace to hit before we head back to the Orca, any of you got a problem with that?" Madeline said with a growl as the pirates just nodded their heads at her. She threw the door open and climbed up the stairs and snarled._ Why isn't anything here, did the lucky guys who raided this place take it all with them? And if so why'd they leave some corpses for Finn to find there but not here?_ Madeline thought as they reached the top of the stairs and opened the door and shielded her eyes from the glare of the light. Walking out onto the rectangular roof she looked straight ahead at the pyramid and noticed something from the corner of her eyes and turned her head to the left and stared. The area facing the left face of the pyramid from where the _Orca_ had docked was in shambles! Building were destroyed and were black _cables_ all over the entire section of the city leading towards a black mound in the center of the area, some of the cables leading to buildings with masses of the black stuff on them and that seemed to be pointing at the light. Tuning her head she saw the _Orca_ and a bit farther down…. A large object that seemed to be made of solid gold! She looked at it with awe and started to chuckle as she grinned._ Oh man oh man! If that's what I think it is then this is great, this is the biggest payday we've ever had! Even if its gold plated, we'll finally build up a fleet and dad; he'll be one of the Pirate Lords!_ Madeline thought as visions of what they could do with that fortune coming their way. Turning to the pirates she had brought with her she matched their grins with one of her own.

"Well crew how about we go and check out that out; see if there's any remains to give a proper burial?" She asked with a mocking grin on her face as her crew got her meaning and started to chuckle.

"It would be the right and proper thing to do boss, we can't leave them to the elements, it would be so wrong." One of them said with a grin on his face as the others nodded.

"And if we should find something that those poor souls don't need anymore, then who could blame us for taking it and putting it to use?" Another asked with a mocking smile as the others chuckled as Madeline turned towards the door ran through it, the others behind her as they charged out of the building towards what they had discovered.

Hammerhead snarled as he looked around and felt a glare grow on his face as he watched the third crate being put into his sub and felt something at the edge of his senses. He barely looked up when Danny came towards him with a frown on his face. _What could be hunting in an urban environment, much less a ruined and abandoned one? I hope what Finn was just something that wasn't caused by something alive, but do I want to trust in luck?_ Hammerhead thought as he observed his crew.

"I just check the other holds Cap'n, we can fit in about six more of those crates, any more and we'd need to…. You alright Cap'n?" Danny asked as Hammerhead looked

"No, something's here, something that might've been here since whatever caused this place to fall." Hammerhead said as Danny looked about and frowned when he couldn't see anything wrong.

"There's nothing cap'n, whatever killed this place had to ave happened a long time ago. And what could the things that did it have eaten if they were still here?" Danny asked only for Hammerhead to point towards the water, looking down Danny saw a few fish here or there and looked back towards his captain.

"Life finds a way. Never mind someone made that saying up in a movie its true. And I didn't stay independent all these years by being stupid. Once my brats return we go, I think that gate might close on us." Hammerhead muttered so only Danny could hear him, causing him to look at Hammerhead in confusion.

"Why, Cap'n, what do you know that I don't about this place?" Danny asked at the volume so the crew wouldn't overhear them. He watched the crew move the crates towards the _Orca _and tried to

"Because my poppy was the skipper on a sub that salvaged a ship that sank on the mountain we came through to get here during the Cold War, and he had no idea about those whales passing by here, he woulda told me about it." Hammerhead said, trying to comprehend what he wasn't saying.

"Why?" Danny could only ask he starred at Hammerhead who went pink.

"Cause on that trip he speared a shark that tried to kill 'em when he was underwater, that story is what got me on the path that ended with me changing me name to Hammerhead." Hammerhead muttered softly only for Danny to stare before shaking his head.

"Dad, I found gold!, it's along the shore in the round direction from Finn" Madeline's voice came over the speaker of his radio, causing him to grab the radio and stare at it before looking at Danny with glee that was reflected back at him that slowly died as thoughts started to slowly to surface in his mind. Hammerhead paid not mind to his as he started to laugh. _THAT'S MY GIRL! If she's found enough gold then we'll throw out the crates in the moon pool to make room! Oh this is the start of my fleet!_ Hammerhead thought as he whistled as the crew turned to look at him.

"ALL CREW GET READY TO MOVE OUT! The defense team is to stand ready to protect the ship! And Danny Boy your…." Hammerhead trailed off when he saw the look on Danny's face as he turned. Danny stared up at him for a few seconds before he spoke his mind to his captain.

"It doesn't make sense Cap'n, if there was enough gold for her to just see it as far off as she is, it doesn't make sense, gold plated maybe." Danny said as his eyes widened as he looked over Hammerhead's shoulder, causing Hammerhead to turn his head as an explosion happened near the warehouse. Hammerhead picked himself up as he looked towards the explosion as he tried to stop the ringing in his head and saw a golden glint amongst the fire as his men picked themselves back up, drawing their weapons as they did so.

"ALL CREW, DEFEND YOURSELVES AND THE SHIP!" Hammerhead bellowed as he drew the saber he had grabbed from the armory and ran towards his men._ If these things think they can throw around my crew and get away with it then I'll send them to Davy Jones myself!_ Hammerhead thought as he ran, Danny Boy following behind him with a net launcher it his hands.

Fontaine walked into the house with a sense of wonder about her as she walked into what would have been the main foyer with a large staircase against the right wall. She stopped when she saw a skeleton on the floor with a box fallen before it. Looking down she saw it was in what looked like the remains of a purple robe with splashes of red and green here and there. She stopped and clapped her hands together and bowed her head, hoping that whoever the skeleton was that it wouldn't feel too bad at her intrusion.

Stopping to inspect she put it back on its feet and looking at it she saw that the box was made of a light's blue stone and had a white crystal where the lock would be. _How does this open, like the Ephemychron? Then I might need Ant to open this, of course they had to have tech that could tell the youngest of a family line, how I still don't know, something else I really want to though._ Fontaine thought as she looked at it and when one of her fingers touched the crystal she felt something pass from her to it and dropped it when she heard a click from it.

She winced and closed her eyes when she heard the box hit the ground and waited for anything else to break and opened her eyes to see five blue leather gloves. _What could this have been and why did this person die carrying them? Culture or religious, it has to have been one or the other. But how did I open it, that doesn't make sense based on what we know about Lemuria._ Fontaine thought as she reached down and picked up one of the gloves and turned it over. She was so content on it that she never noticed the sound of something coming behind her until something hit her back and pushed her to the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Fontain cried as she tried to get up only for what felt like cords held her in place, straining she tried to turn her head and saw that she was tied up in wet looking black cords and saw what looked like black metal paws coming towards her._ Oh man is this thing like those robot jellyfish? I can't stop fighting, keep fighting and stay alive and there's hope._ Fontaine thought as she tried to struggle free. She saw the paws moved towards her when she heard the banging of something hitting something metallic.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Finn's voice cried out angrily as she heard him run and the sounds of something metallic strike something else metallic, the sound of a blade cutting through something and a cry of pain from some animal came before she heard heavy breathing.

"YAAAGA!" Finn screamed before she heard a blade sinking into something and heavy panting before something started to walk towards her.

"Finn, please tell me that's you." Fontaine said before she felt the cords breaking and she turned over to see Finn in a wetsuit, a saber in his hands and breathing heavily as he looked down at her with a satisfied expression on his face.

"Hey, I was looking for this oenology student I know, seen her around here, she always seems to get into trouble and doesn't believe in the supernatural?" Finn said as he offered her his free hand. She grinned and took it letting him pull her up and smiled at him.

"Yeah, she was waiting for this trumpeter who sent her a message online." Fontaine said cheekily as she looked at him. He looked at her and cocked his head as he looked like he was trying to remember something as he reached into one of his pockets.

"I think I met him, he found this ring in a building around here, wanted to give it to her." Finn said as he brought out a silvery ring that he offered to her. Looking at it she felt a gasp escape from her before she took it from him with a huff.

"So you found a ring, what take it off a corpse like him or something?" Fontaine asked as she looked at the ring and noticed an engraving on the inside._ I think this says 'link', link what._ Fontaine thought as a blush formed on her face, causing her to look at Finn who had his back to her and was looking around.

"No I think he said it was an old jewelers store. Nice isn't it, it has some strange writing on it, were you able to read it, since you know your family is all about _Lemuria_?" Finn said causing her to go still. _ How does he know, and if he knows then his whole family knows._ Fontaine thought as her blush died down and Finn turned back to her, reading the expression on her face.

"So dad was right, that is what your family is after." Finn said as he shook her head. Fontaine looked at Finn and decided to tell some truth.

"It's what the Nektons family has been have been after for generations, but that doesn't matter, what did you save me from." Fontaine asked as Finn looked at her and grabbed her hand and led the way to the door and pointed. Fontaine went still at as she saw exactly what Finn had fought. It was little more than a torso of bones with three legs of black steel, two behind one in front all ending in the paws she saw with a black metal horn pointing forward on its head and an axe for a left hand, it was on its side with the remains of a black gemstone dripping out of the ribs.

"I got a lucky strike and hit this black gemstone that was pulsing, I figured that maybe it was the source of its 'life' and I was right. Don't ask why I thought so, very long story about this abandoned ship I heard about once." Finn said as he looked at her.

"I've never seen anything like this; I mean I fought against robot jellyfish that drained power but nothing like this." Fontaine said as Finn looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Robot jellyfish, really?" Finn asked only for Fontaine to grin and lock eyes with him.

"No more strange then when we found the lair of the Minotaur, and that was after you left us by the way." Fontaine said as Finn looked at her with shock before he started to smirk.

"Shoulda stayed on the _Aronnax_, you guys have all the fun adventures. And look I don't know if you saw it but the volcano below the tunnel, the magma was cooling and covering it, I don't know if that's important but." Finn said with a shrug as Fontaine went still and paled. _The mouth wasn't the gate, it was the volcano, but how could it 'open', that can be figured out later._ Fontaine took a step out before she turned and grabbed the box and the gloves and handed one to Finn. He looked at her and she just looked at him flatly.

"Don't ask me why, something is telling me to give this to you. But get back to your ship and leave, when that volcano is covered I'm pretty sure the gate will close, see you next time pirate boy." Fontaine said before Finn grabbed her and pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply. Fontaine's eyes went wide before she closed them and leaned against him as he held her. Finn broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.

"Stay alive and free Fontaine, I will see you again." Finn whispered before he moved away and dashed out of the yard back towards his family. Fontaine brought a hand to her lips and smiled at where Finn had run off.

"Stay alive pirate boy." Fontaine said as she moved off and ran towards the White Knight, stopping to grab a few of the barriers and flowers and put them into the Knight's watertight compartments in the legs._ I'm not leaving something like this here, a plant from Lemuira, I have to take a sample._ Fontaine thought as she tried to stop thinking about the kiss.

Kaiko looked over the data she was receiving and frowned, she couldn't figure out where the spare oxygen was going and it was bothering her that something could stop and threaten her family's lives. A beep caused her to smile when she saw the sample of water she had collected using the _Aronnax's _systems was properly stored away for her to examine later and the rest of the water had been flushed and kept from getting into Jeffery's pipes. _There has t be something in the water, that's the only logical source for where the oxygen is coming from, I can't wait to examine it. And the drones both just finished charging._ Kaiko thought as she pressed the intercom to call Will.

"Will, are the wrecks stored away?" Kaiko asked as she called up a view of the bay he was loading the recovered ships into, seeing the Mag Knight was leaving the opening she smiled and started to close the door after he left it.

"Just left the bay and was about to call you. I'm heading up to check out the area around the dock to see if I can find anything else, everything okay?" Will asked as she flicked a few switches.

"Everything's fine Will, I'm just raising the sub to launch a drone to give us a bird's eye view of this place." Kaiko said as the _Aronnax _broke the water and the light from the crystal shined into the bridge. She could hear him chuckle as she activated the drone and a screen showing what is saw appeared in front of her. As the _Aronnax _bulk grew smaller as the drone flew higher she smiled when she saw the city district around them start to take shape.

"The streets are laid out in a grid pattern; I think it's based off that pyramid at the center. Ant, Fontaine, how are you doing out there?" Kaiko said as Will moved his Knight towards the end of the dock and looked over what the drone had recorded.

"So four districts, then maybe we're in the residential area? How was this planned, religious or philosophy?" Will muttered as he looked around and tried to figure out where to start looking.

"Was there anything religious in the Chronicles of the Deep?" Kaiko asked as the camera moved higher and she started to turn the camera after setting the drone to hover mode.She frowned when she realized her kids hadn't responded and started to try and figure out what was wrong.

"Actually no, but I'm starting to think it was more of a bare bones warning exploration guide than anything else, something for people to use with basic knowledge to come home, of course since we don't have that knowledge." Will said as he saw a strange looking box set against the wall of a building.

"They probably thought that it wouldn't be forgotten, which brings up the possibility that whatever happened, it was fast and scared the survivors enough to forget." Kaiko said grimly as she zoomed in on the whales and frowned when she saw that the pod looked smaller before she saw the younger members of the pod surface with an older one following after them._ Was this all so they could show this place to their young, do they have memoires that run that deep?_ Kaiko thought as she looked at the whales before moving the drones towards the right of the _Aronnax._ Seeing what looked like chateaus along the shore, what looked like a beach for people to swim from with smaller houses and streets that seemed to have wooden remains here and there, zooming in she saw a stone building on a main road with a pictogram of something on it, frowning she marked it to investigate and sent the drone onward.

"Maybe; that's something to talk to Nereus about; if he'll give us a straight answer." Will said as he looked at the crate he had spied and noticed a crystal on the front of the box where the lock would be._ What is this, and why do I feel it was put here for me to find?_ Will thought as he half listened to his wife describe what the drone had found.

"The drone finished checking out the area near the _Aronnax _and thankfully so far this place has nothing that would seem to be a problem for us, moving towards the next section, I wonder what the other area looks like…what in the?" Kaiko trailed off as she stared at she saw. The entire area, from the pyramid to the water was _overgrown_. Trees with purple leaves and red vines and tall grass like plants the size of two story buildings had conquered the whole area. And at the opposite side of the section from where the drone hovered were black cables of some kind of material and a whole district with the black material all over it. As she stared through the drone's camera she stared in shock as it started to fall, swirling the camera around to she saw that a _wooden spear had pierced the drone._ She winced when it crashed and stared at the final picture in total shock.

"Hey Kaiko I found something I'm bringing it to one of the airlocks, doesn't seem to be airtight and something about it…Kaiko? Kaiko can you hear me!" Will said as Kaiko jolted in her seat and closed the screen started to try and get her breathing under control._ What was that, I don't. that was something I can't…the kids, the kids are in danger, I got in contact with them! _Kaiko thought as her fingers flew over the controls. She stared in shock as the raido failed to receive anything from the Swamp or White Knight and she felt herself freeze as she realized the problem wasn't with their radios.

"Will, we just lost drone one, something forced it down and something's interfering with the radio! I'm sending drone two to find the kids, thankfully it's still working fine!" Kaiko said as the other drone shot up from the _Aronnax_ and moved in the direction Fontaine had gone.

"What do you mean something, what brought it down, and what's wrong with the radios!" Will demand as he put the crate he had found into the _Aronnax_ and started to look around, hoping that he wouldn't see anything that could cast light on what was happening.

"You'll have to see it to believe it. I'm closing the moon pool and once their back we'll leave, we can explore this place when we know what's here and do it safely. As for the radio I'm hoping to use the drone's wireless as a work around!" Kaiko said as she drove the drone over the streets, hoping to find her children. She looked on the outside monitors and saw Will was standing guard and moving in a circle to protect them from anything that might attack them.

Will looked around as he stood guard, cursing himself for letting Fontaine and Ant slip away before they had checked this place out thoroughly. _If their hurt by anything here I'll never forgive myself. Why did I have to let them out of my sight!_ Will thought as he looked around and froze when he saw a shadow move in front of him; looking upwards he stared at what he saw before he gritted his teeth and reacted.

"KAIKO, LOCKDOWN ALL THE ENTRENCES, NOW!" Will cried out as he shot a cable at what he had seem._ I really need to talk to the professor about getting the Knights defensive armaments._ Will thought as he missed and what he saw jumped at him, causing him to raise the right second arms to block it.

Madeline smirked when they reached the area near where they had seen the gold and felt a giggle escape her as she led the way. This was what being a pirate in the modern day was all about, getting treasure and plunder and just being awesome! She was so happy that as she moved towards her goal she never noticed that her men had gone tense and were looking about, having never registered the sound of a falling rock minutes ago. As they reached where they had seen the gold she saw a wall that had been pierced, broken bricks were all over the ground with a hole through which she led her party. The golden object she had seen was as big as the _Dark Orca_, a long tube shaped boat with down sweeping wings that raised it out of the water, it's front had the lower part open and on the shoreline with the interior dark beyond a certain point, a few black cables moving out of it and along the wall they had come from to the left.

Madeline looked at the ship and felt her joy start to fall as she looked it over, it wasn't a monument it was a ship of some kind. Looking down the shore she saw other golden boats and scoffed._ So then not monuments but the remnants of the attacking force, but who won in the end, why were they left here?_ Madeline thought before she overheard her men talking amongst themselves.

"So this was what attacked this place then, think their submersible?" One of the pirates asked as she walked and tried to get a feel for the ship. It had no windows on sides and what might have been the bridge tower was low to the deck, only one story high and had no windows she could see. _Good question, and that makes me wonder how high-tech were the attackers, and how high tech were these…Lemurians? And what the Nektons have that even told them this place existed._ Madeline thought as she looked around and walked right in front of the ship and tapped it, wondering if it really was gold. Looking about she spotted what looked like another golden ship that had been blown apart and walked towards it, stopping to pick up one of the smaller pieces and wiped the dirt from it, revealing a solid block of a gold collared material with a few pieces of a silvery material sticking out of various places.

"Hey, get over here and grab what you can carry, we're bring what we can back!" Madeline commanded as she turned back and frowned. _What was that, did I see something, this place is abandoned, what could be here?_ Madeline thought as her crew moved to grab what they could.

"MADELINE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" Hammerhead's voice came over the radio and Madeline frowned. _What was that in the background, the sound of something burning? What happened back at the Orca? _Madeline thought as she reached for her radio and

"Cap'n we found the gold, it was a ship! We're bringing back-" Madeline begain before Hammerhead interrupted her.

"DROP AND GET BACK HERE, WE WERE ATTACKED BY SOMETHING AND ONCE FINN GETS BACK WE'RE LEAVING WITH WHAT WE GOT! NOW GET…." Hammerhead's voice came over the radio before it died and Madeline looked around and then turned towards her men and saw the looks on their faces. _Okay, first rule of command, don't let your men or enemy see when you sweet. So let's just grab the gold and then we get moving._ Madeline thought as she looked at her followers.

"Men, finish grabbing what ya got and lets move back to the sub!" Madeline commanded as she looked towards where she had thought she had seen a shadow and gestured for her men to move towards hole in the wall.

As they moved towards the hole Madeline saw a shadow by the opening and gestured for them to stop, picking up a stone she threw it over the wall and seconds later four black metal skeletons with a black tar like substance covering their bodies, their arms ending in claws that dripped black tar came at them. Madeline stared for a second before making a choice she hopped was the right one.

"TO THE GOLD SHIP, GOOO!" Madeline screamed as she turned and ran with her pirates' right behind her. As they ran Madeline shot a look over her shoulder and frowned when she saw the skeletons were _walking_ after them. When they entered the gold ship she looked around, trying to find anything that could be used to stop the skeletons, but all that she saw were open cages and a door in the back.

"INTO THE SHIP, WE'LL HOLD THEM AT THE DOOR!" Madeline cried as she charged into the dark corridors of the ship's interior. As the pirates tried to close the door Madeline fumbled for her radio and tried to get a signal. As the skeletons pounded against the door she finally.

"Hey dad, yeah what attacked you attacked us and we're in that golden ship I told you about, so help, please?" Madeline said as she heard the blows against the door. She looked up and saw a glowing cable leading deeper into the ship and looked around, hoping to find something to block the door and noticed three locks on the wall next to the door and closed them and pressed a button, the door slamming shot and a cry of pain form within the ship. Madeline looked at her followers who looked conflicted and she._ Leadership rule two, 'try and keep your men's moral up'. We're trapped in a ship and robotic skeletons are after us and the only thing holding them at bay is the construction of this ships builders, so…treasure hunt? _Madeline thought as she looked at the faces of her men.

"So since we don't know when the captain is coming to get us, let's see if there's anything we can get salvage here!" Madeline commanded as she turned on her light and walked down the corridor, her men looking at each other before following after her.

RWS** Finn rescuses Fontaine from attacked by mutant, and talking to Fontaine, meeting her in knight after he finds a painting of 'her' in a dress next to a snow fairy KAIJU1**

Finn tells her volcano seems to be covering over and Fontaine mentions ice forming on tip of mountain, undersea icicle. Finn finds box and gives her ring[Not knowing its an artifact/Focus that links people when they sleep

RWSC3

Nekton _Aronnax_

Ant looked around the street as he walked in the Swamp Knight and marveled at what he saw. He had gone down a side street to get around a toppled building and had found a courtyard with a tree that had black apple like fruits on it and taken a few plus a few leaves and was presently moving down what looked a back street of a shopping distract with most of the doors open, letting him see into the back rooms of what might have been shops and restaurants, one store he had marked seemed to be leading onto a stage.

"Amazing Jeffry, looking around you can only imagine how this place was when people lived here, can you feel them?" Ant asked with a look of awe as he explored._ This is incredible; I can't wait until we can announce this to the world and see Mad Madeline's face when we see her next. _Ant thought as he chuckled lightly. He smiled when he saw he had reached the end of the alley and smiled, if he was right then he had gotten around the fallen building and with luck he would be back on track to reach the pyramid.

His smile dropped when he saw the street as he turned. There was a bluish black energy field from this skull with a black diamond sticking out of its mouth that covered the entire street for the next thirty feet. He saw humans with tan skin, a woman in an elaborate looking robe with the Nekton crest on her clothing in purple leading a male teen his age in a tunic and a woman his mom's age in a tunic with an apron on and both of them had a round crest of what looked like a two horned narwhale on their clothing. Farther back there was what looked like a knight in blue plate mail with a helm that looked like it was inspired by a dolphin with a dorsal fin on the back wielding a purple lance. Next to him was a blue humanoid in purple chest armor with legs that ended in narrow point and both its arms end in a sword like edge, both the knight and the humanoid were locked in combat with two black metal skeletons armed with twin claymore blades instead of hands.

"Okay Jeffry, either this is a really old hologram or it's something else. If it's the first amazing and probably part of a play, if the second then I don't want to think how these people will reacted if I break it." Ant said as he looked at the skull and frowned, wondering if he should approach it.

"Hey guys you really should get over here, I think I found something that's very strange. If it's real then we should so do something and help them." Ant said as he activated his long range radio and waited a few seconds for a replay. Ant frowned as he looked at the view before him and waited a few more seconds.

"Not funny guys, whatever joke you planned to get me back for a few of my pranks but really mom I wouldn't think you'd join in….Mom? MOM! Dad, Mom, Fontaine can anyone read me!? What's happening Jeffry, why can't I reach them?!" Ant asked as he started to panic. After a few seconds he finally heard his sister's voice.

"Fontaine here, Ant am I glad to hear from you! I ran into something that attacked me and Finn saved me, I tried to raise mom and dad and couldn't I'm heading towards you since I picked up the Swamp Knight's signal. Head back to the _Aronnax and I'll meet you on route._" Fontaine replay caused Ant to stare in shock._ The pirates are here?! How, did they follow us? We've got to find a way around their sonar blocking tech! But what could have attacked her, this place is dead! _Ant thought as he looked around and went still when he saw something he hoped he wouldn't. He saw shadows moving on the ground, things that looked like something holding an axe in its hands.

"Hey Fontaine; about that thing that attacked you; did it use an axe?" Ant asked as he counted the shadows and saw three of them.He steeled himself and waited for them to make a move, maybe they hadn't noticed him

"Ant it attacked me by throwing some kind of net at me, move!" Fontaine cried out, Ant reacted and jumped the knight to the side seconds before three black wet looking blobs hit where he had been standing. As he looked at the four black metal skeletons as they landed around him and he flexed his arms and looked at them. Noticing the axes on their left arms and looking at the horns on their head he stared at a pulsing gemstone where their hearts would be and tried to figure out what they were._ These things don't look like anything that I've seen before that's associated with Lemuria, could these be the attackers? And then there's them to consider._ Ant thought as he looked at the energy field and made a choice, looking at the enemy as he flexed the Knights arms.

"Well come on!" Ant called as he looked at the black skeletons as they tried to corner him with his back to the field. As the three things ran at him he struck out with the Knight's arms and tried to hold them at bay.

"I'm almost there Ant, just hold on!" Fontaine said as he heard the sounds of her running and figured if she was trying to get to him.

"Go down the third alley on the right side at the fallen building with white corners, then run, turn left at the big tree and keep going!" Ant said as he grabbed one of the axes with the Knight's right manipulating arm and torn the axe from the skeleton's body. The skeleton only looked at him and dropped its mouth open and spat a blob of black tar at him and he struggled to get it off his windshield a blow to the side sent him downward and crashing onto the skull generating the field. As the field died down and the people started to react the knight pierced the thing he was fighting and the others saw the black skulls shot more globs at him, tying down the knight to the ground before they turned towards them. The humanoid with four arms looked at him and cried out, causing the other humans to look and the younger woman in the apron pushed the teen behind her. Their call had caused the metal skeletons to look at and two of them turned towards them with the arms one as the last one moved at Ant.

"Come on please, please!" Ant begged as he struggled, not noticing that that Jeffrey had started to glow as he starred at the skeletons as they moved towards the people. The knight broke free and turned as the blue humanoid parried the blows of the claymore wielder and formed an energy shield that caused the tar the skeletons spat at him to flow to the ground. As the four armed humanoid looked at the three skeletons it raised its arms as ice started to form on its hands. Ant thought he could only watch when suddenly the sound of glass breaking caused him to look down and saw Jeffrey shot out of the jorange glowing, at the top of his leap he stopped falling and he floated in midair, staring at the metallic skeletons as the glow intensified.

"Jeffry?" Ant whispered as Jeffry started to change and grow, he turned into a ten foot eel like creature with two tentacle clubs above two arms that grew out of his flippers that ended in five webbed clawed fingers, with a long tail for a lower body and forward sweeping horns on his head with a long dorsal fin that went to the end of his tail. A white spark formed between the horns and shot and pierced the gem of one of the black skeletons. Jeffery floated back above Ant and while he looked at the remaining two skeletons as they turned to him, growling softly as he reached with his claws and tor away the black cables holding Ant down.

Ant got back to his feet and saw the people look to him with a look of hope on their faces and he felt something in him, something that told him it was his purpose to defend them from harm. Before he could do anything a white energy tendril hit him and he saw _Jeffry's_ plan to deal with the black things and while he realized just what Jeffry had done he nodded._ We'll figure this out later, now to protect!_ Ant thought as he ran the black skeleton on the right as Jeffry flew at the one at the left. As they both charged at them Ant jumped at the one on the left as Jeffry dived under him and shot at the right one as Ant punched the one on the left, pulverizing its chest as Jeffry destroyed the right one by shooting its black crystal. As the final metal skeleton started to back up it opened its mouth and released a smog screen that when it cleared it had disappeared.

Ant looked at the knight who had finished off the claymore with the humanoid and had turned to the people and started to talk to them softly. Ant got out of the Swamp Knight and approached Jeffry who nuzzled his face against Ant's, not noticing that the boy had pulled on the apron woman's arm and pointed at Ant who gasped, the sound causing the people to look at Ant and Ant to look at them.

The knight and the woman in the robe dashed at him and started to talk at him in that strange language that sounded like the Lemurian lessons Nereus had given his dad._ These people are Lemurians and they think I'm one of them, how can I make them see that I'm not?_ Ant thought as he raised his hands as Jeffry floated above him, a scowl forming as Ant tried to get their attention.

"Hey, I don't know who you are but could you please slow down?" Ant asked as couldn't understand their langrage until the woman arms started to glow and a glowing sphere engulfed all of them. Ant felt something probe at his mind, he grabbed at his head as the feeling intensified for a second before he went away and he panted.

"Are you alright my prince, why did you come back, you should have been on the first evacuation ship! And what happened to make you forget how to speak the common tongue?" The woman exclaimed in English as the knight nodded his head before the four armed blue humanoid walked towards them before speaking up.

"Indeed my boy I do compliment your invention but using an untested prototype is very dangerous, haven't I taught you such?" The humanoid asked in a cultured sounding voice as it crossed two of its arms. Any looked at the two of them and spared a glance at Jeffry before the knight exploded in a muffled voice.

"They're right Prince Antaeus, what are you doing here, the enemy is attacking you have to leave now!" Ant looked at the person before him and starred. _What's he talking about, I was right they do think I'm someone else, do I look that much like my ancestor? If that's true then they really are! _Ant thought as Fontaine came around the corner in the White Knight.

"ANT! GET Away from my Brother!" Fontaine cried as she barreled towards them. Ant looked on shocked as the knight barred in front of him and braced for Fontaine's charge before he realized that she had called the boy behind him brother.

"Princess Fontaria?" He asked before the White Knight body slammed him into the wall and he dropped to the floor with his head limp. After a few seconds the knight groaned lay still as the others who were in the energy field stared at Ant and Fontaine.

"Princess? Ant who is this guy and what is he wearing? And who are they and what's that?" Fontaine asked as she looked around and saw the teen and two women and stopped looking at Jeffry as floated and grinned at her. Ant looked up at Jeffrey and turned to look at Fontaine and grinned at her.

"That's Jeffry, can't you tell by the colors of his scales?" Ant asked as Fontaine looked at Jeffrey as he rolled over and smiled at her as he rolled over in the air. Fontaine noticed that yes, Jeffry did have the same coloring as when he was a small fish and stared in shock.

"Princess Fontaria, Prince Antaeus I don't know where you got those armor suits but we should get to…the…royal? You're not the prince and princess!" The woman in the robe exclaimed as she looked at the two of them as Fontaine climbed out of the White Knight and starred at Fontaine's hair. The blue humanoid looked at Ant and took a step

"No I'm not my name is Ant, Ant Nekton and this is Fontaine, my sister and my best friend Jeffry." Ant said as he gestured to each in turn. The woman looked at them and stared in shock before looking around and paling when she saw what the condition of the buildings around them.

"Hey lady, maybe it would be better that we get outa here first before we find out who these people are, you do have a ship to leave on right?" The teen asked with a deadpan look on his face as he nudged one of the black skeletons with a stick. Fontaine jolted and looked at the four people and nodded her head. _If there are more of those things then it's not safe for them to stay here and these people are living Lemurians, something is telling me to protect them._ Fontaine thought as she looked at the people.

"Ant, get back in the Swamp Knight and led the way back, I'll carry that guy. Listen, we're heading back to our ship and you can all follow us." Fontaine said as she looked at the people. The woman in the robe looked conflicted as Ant got back into the Swamp Knight as she got into the White Knight. The older woman looked conflicted before the four armed humanoid spoke up.

"Teacher, I would remind you of the story of the dolphin and the shark, in how different people can help each other when they meet inexpertly. And madam I believe that the Aqua Striker will want to carry his duelist." The four armed humanoid said as the humanoid with sword arms [to be referred to after as Aqua Striker] picked up the Knight.

"Look around milady, we had to have been in that trap for years, maybe centuries, and if some of those things are still active…. These people might be related to our lords, but they are offering us safety." The apron wearing woman said as Fontaine bent down and picked up the knocked out guy. She looked up at the caverns celling and nodded before she followed after Ant as he led the way as Jeffry guard them by floating above their heads.

RWS Duel ice forming on tip of mountain to peirce magma covering to open mouth[mana seals do this]

Finn moved as fast as he could while keeping an eye out for anything trying to get the drop on him as he tried to get back to his family. The _thing_ he had fought to save Fontaine already made the bad feeling that he had gotten where they had docked that much worse. As he ran he looked around and he could see a few marks that showed battles happened within the ruin frequently, marks that now that he could see they might be there were particle screaming at him._ I just had to stay quiet about my feelings when we docked, because of course I found the place __**wrong**__ but dad never listens to my feelings, hell he never listens to me anyway_!Finn thought with a scowl as he rounded the last corner and saw the area he had left his father and ship was aflame. From the sounds he could hear his crew was fighting back and he could hear his father screaming so there was that.

"You'd better still be alive Maddie, or so help me I'll drag you out of the locker to throw you back in myself!" Finn promised as he ran towards the sounds he heard, drawing his cutlass as he moved.

Hammerhead slashed at the black tar covered skeleton as he looked about, the flames causing shadows to make it seemed that more of them were here then there were. Hammerhead knew that there had been ten of those things when they first attacked them and they had defeated most of them when five more of them had arrived as reinforcements with a black metal centaur made of three torsos connected together with six legs and two lancers for arms with a black tar like substance dripping off its body. Once it had appeared the other things had stated to work together instead of acting like a mob. Danny Boy had gotten range weapons from the armory and had formed a firing line while Hammerhead had taken the battle to them with a few of his crew.

Hammerhead looked about and snarled as he saw that some of his men were stuck to the ground with black tar keeping tied to the ground and some of the humanoid black metal skeletons were trying to drag them away. _So the scum are after prisoners, why…what could that gain these motherless scums? I can only hope that Maddie is still free, if not I'll find their lair and burn it to bedrock!_ Hammerhead thought as he sliced at another of the metallic humanoids as he fought to get to his men. The centaur looked at him, and Hammerhead could feel the weight of its sightless gaze on him and knew instantly that they had to deal with that thing to survive this attack.

"RAAAGGHHA!" Hamerhead screamed as he charged at the metallic humanoids as he slashed at them and tried to get to his men. As he sliced the head of one them off he looked could only look on helplessly as one of the reached down with its claws to grab his men when suddenly it toppled over and he saw Finn remove his cutlass from its chest.

"THE GEMS WITHIN, THERE THESE THINGS POWERSOURCE! AIM FOR THEM!" Finn bellowed as he charged at another and slashed with his blade, sparks flying from the humanoids claws as it tried to protect is chest._ If that's true, then!_ Hammerhead thought as he looked at the centaur and saw two gems in two of its torsos, the one with the head and the one with two sets of legs.

"DANNY BOY, AIM FOR THE CENTUAR'S GEMS! THOSE OF YOU FREE SAVE YOUR CREW MATES" Hammerhead bellowed as he ran to back his son up. Finn looked up as his father stabbed into the chest of one of them, the force of his blow throwing its body backwards. Finn merely grunted and sliced at another of the humanoids skeletons as he defended the captured pirates. He smirked when Danny and the pirates he was with started firing on the centaur and caused it to fall back as the pirates started to work together to deal with them. A lucky shot from one of the shooters caused the centaur's central lower gem to shatter and for the top of its skull to crack. The centaur seemed to be looking at Hammerhead before it turned and ran, the last of the humanoids following behind it as it ran away to cheers from the crew as they set about freeing their comrades.

Finn looked about, feeling that something was wrong and after he looked towards the _Dark Orca_ and saw Danny leading a party to get the others free and froze when he realized what he _didn't_ see.

"Get everyone free now! Everyone with Danny work on freeing your shipmates, everyone else stand guard and those freed get moving to the _Orca_, we're moving out as soon as everyone's on board!" Hammerhead bellowed with a glare on his face as he directed his crew before Finn….

"DAD!" Finn bellowed as he stalked towards him and locked eyes with him. Hammerhead head only looked at Finn, he glare softening as he realized just what had set Finn off.

"Where's Maddie?" Finn asked his father, Hammerhead could only look away, causing Finn to go completely pale as he looked towards where the metal skeletons had gone and was about to charge after them when Hammerhead grabbed Finn's shoulder to stop him from leaving and spoke up.

"She wasn't captured; she found something farther that way and ran into some trouble, we're moving out to rescue her as soon as we're done." Hammerhead said as he moved to pick up a tangled pirate before Finn moved to join him in getting their crew back to the _Orca._ _Hang on just a little longer Maddie; me and dad are coming, just hang on a bit more!_ Finn thought as he helped the pirate to his feet and pushed towards another tangled man.

Maddie looked about as she walked down the corridor and looked about, wondering just how they could get out since the way through the open bay was blocked. Moving down the hallways one of the pirates looked about and frowned. Something had been nagging him for a while now and looking up and down the passage way he tried to figure out just what was bothering him and suddenly it hit him, causing him to stop and the person behind him to walk into him.

"Hey you idiot what the heck do you think….What's wrong?" The second pirate asked as the others turned and saw that the first pirate had gone completely pale and was looking around in horror.

"There are no rooms, no side passages and so this is the only way from the hanger or whatever that jail was! This place might not have been made for people to use!" He said as he looked around and glared at Madeline who started to laugh so hard she cried and had to lean against the wall.

"Not made for people, what did leprechauns make this thing?" She asked when she regained her breath and looked at him, only to stop when she saw the look in his eyes.

"We were attacked by metal skeletons on an island in an underwater cavern in the artic and the fact that this place might not have been made by humans, that's what you have a hard time believing?!" The pirate demanded as Madeline and the others looked around._ Okay, yeah I can see where he's coming from and he's right about this place, it's really weird. You would expect there to have been at least one access passage to get at the inner machinery._ Madeline thought as she looked around and noticed a T shaped intersection ahead of them.

Once there she looked down both ways and saw a destroyed pipe on the celling and looking down both directions she noticed that the right passage's pipe was glowing, and looking back the way they had come nodded._ So that's probably a power source and if we're lucky then a way to access it from the outside might be nearby, I mean whatever made this would need a way to get at it fast from the hull, right?_ Madeline thought as she led the way down the passage, the glow of the pipe leading the way. After a few minutes of walking they reached another T intersection with pipes going both directions with a large hexagon crystal connected to the pipe with two more pipes leading both ways, with both glowing.

Looking towards where the hull would be she noticed that the corridor turned and looking the other way she saw the passage way turned the opposite direction._ Who the heck made this; it's not setup like any ship I've ever been on! But what's powering this thing; that might give us and edge against the Nektons and others!_ Madeline thought as she looked down both ways and tried to figure out what she would do next. She shuddered as she felt _his_ eyes on her again and looked towards the passage that went towards the hull and nodded.

"Right then! You go that way and come back here if you find a way out. You stay here and call out if you hear anything from the door we closed and you come with me, we're going to see if this leads to the engine room." Madeline said as she moved down the corridor into the ship. Her men just looked at each other before the one she chose ran after her leaving the others alone.

"What the hell is that little brat thinking; we need to get out of here!" The pirate who spoke had blond hair and had a cutlass on his waist and was wearing a white bandana around his neck. The other just scoffed and leaned against the wall and looked at him.

"You've been mouthing off since you came on board, but just go and do it Gonzalez!" The other pirate said with a glare, Gonzalez looked at him before he walked off in a huff. Gonzalez muttered as he walked off, a scowl on his face as he looked around at the ship. He never noticed cables from the wall moving after him as he walked only to stop when he started to speak out load.

"Little girls trying to prove she should be here, everyone knows where girls belong and it ain't in command. Old fool trying to bend over for his brats. It's not right, it's against the _rules_!" He spat as he moved, the cables going still before moving back into the walls as he walked on. He never noticed that something was _watching_ him. As he walked he never noticed that a camera on one of the walls had shined a black light on him as he walked past and seemed to blink in pleasure.

"What do you expect to find down here boss lady?" The pirate that followed Madeline asked as she led the way downward. The passage had turned and opened to a staircase that went downward for about ten feet before straighten out to a passage that led to back towards the bow of the ship.

"Some way to get out of this thing or something to one up the Nektons." Madeline said as she looked about, hoping to find something about the passage way that was different.

"And the reason you sent Gonzalez that way, the bastard's a rat sure, but do you really think he'll come back for us?" The pirate asked, Madeline ignored him and kept walking._ He's right but if I left him behind to guard the passage he'd go the other way and leave me here to get stabbed in the back by those things._ Madeline thought with a scowl as she led the way.

"Hopefully he'll find a way out and come back for the rest of you and that the best I can hope for." Madeline said as she looked about and stopped, staining her ears and turning sharply, drawing her blade and moving behind the pirate who drew his own blade only to stare when they heard the screaming coming from behind them.

"RUN THE OTHER WAY!" The voice was from the pirate who had been left at the intersection and Madeline ran down the passage away from the sounds of feet running after them. Looking ahead she saw they were running towards an open doorway and cursing she speed up, hoping that they could bottle neck them metal skeletons that had to be following her crewmate, looking up she smirked as she ran._ At least I'll find out where the glow's coming from._ Madeline thought as she ran through the doorway, running into a large room that was as large as the space that they had entered when they had boarded the ship. Madeline could see a figure in a black robe at the fall end of the room with a strange helmet on and Madeline had a second to see this before she dodged to the right as gold cables came at her, finding a place to hide behind vertical pipes but her follower couldn't dodge and was dragged towards the port side wall, screaming when two more gold cables hit his sides and a glow came from them into the wall, a mechanical whine sounding farther back.

Madeline looked at the cables from the port and tried to figure out how to get out of this when she heard the sounds of running and winched._ They'll a sitting duck if he comes in here but it's one way only, gotta warn them._ Madeline thought before she screamed.

"DODGE TO STARBOARD WHEN YOU ENETER BILGE RAT!" Madeline called out, as the lone pirate entered the room he dived to the right and joined her as the metal skeletons came into the room and were dragged against the far wall, the cables glowing black when they hit the tar.

"How are we gonna get out of this and save him Mad Madeline?" The pirate asked as he glanced at the captive, Madeline scowled as she looked before turning to face him.

"Let me think, wait where's Gonzalez!?" Madeline demanded, only for the pirate to look shamed face before replaying.

"A freaking wall dropped over the passage he went down and a few seconds later those things came at me, I ran and screamed when I reached the stairs." The pirate said as he looked about.

"you…can…get…out…if…you….help…me." A voice rasped from the figure in the black robe. Madeline looked at him and scowled.

"What do you know?" Madeline called out as the cables tried to get at her and her follower.

"free… me…and…i…will…fight…for…you…and…get…you…out…of…here." He rasped as Madeline looked at the pirate with her. He looked at her and shrugged. Madeline bit her lips and snarled to herself._ There's no way out of here and those things are waiting to grab us as soon as they can, I don't have another way to do this then to trust him not to betray us._ Madeline thought as she started to try and make her way towards the robed figure.

"you….have… to…press…the…dark….blue…button…on…the…wall…on…your…side." He rasped as Madeline stopped and looked around, finally spotting in the shadows what buttons next to a doorway. Running towards it she saw two rows of buttons, the left side glowing. She pressed the darkish blue one and she heard the sound of steam being released and she saw the robed figure drop to the floor and roll away from the cables until he ended up next to her, panting heavily.

"Thank you….give me….a few minutes….then press the white button." The figure said as he got to his feet and looked at the pirate still held by the cables. Madeline frowned as she tried to figure out his accent but frowned and nodded her head.

"Wait for it, wait for it, Now!" He cried prompting Madeline to press the button before he as he trust his arm out and a **stream of water shot from his hand **and grabbed and pulled the pirate to their side of the room!Madeline stared in shock as the pirate started to cough out any of the water that might have gotten in his mouth. She kept looking as the robed figure turned his helmeted head and looked at her.

"I believe that we should move out of here milady, it would be best while the Lightspawn still is adjusting to the decreases in the mana it takes." The figure said as it moved along the pipes towards the doorway they had come through._ Lightspawn, that must be the ship, then the cables were draining something so then…._Madeline thought as she looked around the chamber in growing horror.

"Lightspawn, that's this ship, it was…eating you?" Madeline asked, causing the figure to stop turned to look at her.

"No I mean the sentient organism that we are current within, didn't you know this 'ship' was alive?" The figure asked flatly causing Madeline and her pirates to stop moving and stare.

"IT'S WHAT?!" Madeline demanded as the others stared at the figure in shock, Madeline fainting hoping that she had heard that wrong.

Gonzalez looked about as he walked through the corridor, so far he had found nothing and was wondering if he should turn around. _The brat had probably found a way out and left me behind; I know how the others look at me._ He thought as he walked, not noticing the camera's watching him as he moved he started to curse his situation and boss.

"Stupid little brat, flouting the fact her father set her in charge. Fat old fool doesn't ever think about the laws of piracy the old f…."He started when a door opened before him.

"**YOU VALUE LAW?**" A robotic voice asked suddenly, causing him to stop and look around saw a cable had removed itself from the wall was looking at him with a camera set into the center of the cables head.

"Yeah I do, who's talking to me, the captain of this ship?" Gonzalez asked as he looked around and tried to find the speakers. _So somebody is still alive, and he's a law lover, what kinda law I wonder._ He thought as he looked back at the cable and saw it pointing at the door.

"**I AM A SURVIVOR OF THE FORCE THAT ATTACKED THIS PLACE, I HAVE BEEN DAMAGE FOR YEARS, MY END APROACHES. I OFFER YOU, ONE WHO VALUES LAW THE CHANCE TO INHERIT MY POWER, WHAT WILL COME AFTER ME WILL SURVE YOU.**" The voice said as Gonzalez walked through the door and saw a round crystal with cables leading into it, half of them were damaged and of the other half only half of them were still glowing. As he looked around he saw that the room was circular in nature with no monitors or anyway to look out.

"Where are you, I do my deals in person and what do you mean what will come after?" Gonzalez demanded as he looked about and tried to find any hint about who he was talking to.

"**AS WE SPEAK THE OTHERS HAVE TAKEN THE LAST HIGH GRADE POWER SOURCE FROM MY SECONDARY ENERGY CHAMBER. WHAT WILL BE A BASE TO BEND THIS PLACE TO YOUR WILL, THE KNOWLEDGE TO BUILD A FORCE AND THE POWER TO DO SO.**" The voice said as cables moved away from the wall and looked at him as he walked towards the gem at the center of the room, marveling at it as he tries to keep his wits about him._ If I can get away from here with something like this I could start my own band with the proceeds of selling this at the Floating Market, not if I dared to sell in New Tortuga._ He thought as he kept his face blank as the door he walked through close as he stood there.

"Once again who am I bargaining with and where are you speaking from?" Gonzalez asked again as he looked around. The cables moved back and forth and stayed away from him until the voice spoke again.

"**I AM ALL AROUND YOU; I AM THE TYPE STORM PATROL, MODEL WAVE SUBJUGATOR; FORMER MEMBER OF THE ATLANTIAN ATTACK FORCE THAT TRIED TO CONQUER THIS PLACE. YOU ARE WITHIN ME.**" The voice said as Gonzalez stopped moving and looked at the crystal before laughing softly and looking.

"You're pranking me, right? You can't be this….you're not. If I take this offer, what will happen to me?" Gonzalez asked as he looked around and realized he was talking to the _ship_ and it was offering.

"**YOU WILL BE MORE THEN HUMAN, YOU WILL HAVE MY INTELLIGENCE AND BE UNAGING, CENTURIES COULD PASS AND YOU WOULD STAY STRONG.**"The voice said as Gonzalez took a deep breath and looked at the cables as they moved about as a grin formed on his face as he took in what was being said._ It's probably not telling me everything but that's fine I mean what has humanity offered me really? That bastard of a brother had to stop me from using that whore like their supposed to be used and I've still got that warrant out for me._ Gonzalez thought as he looked about. From before the gemstone a compartment opened and a tall golden pillar of a crystalline material rose from the floor and cables connected it to the gemstone as

"**MERELY TOUCH THE MANA CRYSTAL AND BECOME MORE, GAIN MY MIGHT AND USE YOUR STRENGTH TO CONQUER THIS PLANET.**" The Wave Conqueror told him as Gonzalez looked at the pillar and without a moment's hesitation touched it before he was enveloped by a golden glow and he felt himself start to _change_ as the lights started to flicker. The lights died down as what had been Gonzalez stood there in the dark and turned towards the doorway, his eyes glowing gold as he moved towards his _former_ comrades.

Madeline followed the robbed figure as he led the way back towards where they had entered, her eyes darting all around and wondering if more of those cables would attack. The lights suddenly went out and the figure in front of them stopped before she heard him moving faster.

"RUN NOW!" Madeline heard and after turning on her light she ran after him, the others doing the following just as fast. As they ran back towards the corridor she looked at the figure in the robe as he ran, every time he pumped his arms as he ran she saw a flash of blue skin, something she would talk to him about later. Ahead of them was the stairs and beyond that was the corridor.

"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?" Madeline demanded as they ran. As he reached the stairs and moved up them he yelled back.

"IF THIS THING IS DOING WHAT I THINK IT IS THEN IT'S REALLY BAD!" The figure replayed, causing Madeline to stare as she reached the stairs. _I can only hope that we find a way to get past that door and get Gonzalez before we leave this thing. And I have to remember to melt all the gold we took from the shore. And whatever this thing is doing I hope we survive it!_ Madeline thought as she ran up the stairs, following the robed figure as her two pirates followed her.

As they reached the top of the stairs Madeline heard a sound of metal on metal and looked ahead of them and saw the intersection and two glowing points in the darkness of the corridor, the light from the pipes gone, the glow from them having died. Madeline strained her eyes and saw the gold glow came from a humanoid form where the eyes were. A chuckle was heard from the shape, a familiar sounding chuckle. The robed figure shifted his feet slightly, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice when the situation went bad._ Of course this old beast had enough strength left to do this, I guess that my freedom pushed it over the edge of the logic that I would want revenge for my….difficulties._ He thought as he looked on as Madeline spoke up.

"That you Gonzalez, what happened when you lost contact? Whatever, fall in we're leaving while we can." Madeline said causing Gonzalez to just stare before he stated to speak.

"What happened was I evolved into what I would was always denied by others. As for leaving, no I think not. You two; follow me and I promise you positions in the world's new order." He declared as one of the pirates walked towards Gonzalez.

"Geez Gonzalez, I know this place played games on us but let's get back to the _Dark Orca _and we'll….is this metal?" He asked as he put his hand on Gonzalez's shoulder and looked down at it before Gonzalez raised his other arm and punched him, sending him flying backwards.

"So that's a no, too bad. All that oppose me shall meet the reaper, with you two I'll make sure it's fast." Gonzalez said as Madeline shined a light on him and revealed that his upper arms and shoulders were now made of a golden material and on his back were two gold metal wings shaped like a hawk's wings and his legs were metal from the knee down with bulky looking boots on his feet. His hands flexed, a golden glow forming on them.

"You've become a monster you traitor!" Madeline spat as the other pirate helped the struck one back to his feet, Gonzalez only laughing darkly. Madeline watched him and slowly moved her hand towards a knife at her waist.

"MONSTER, you have no idea what I have become! No you brat I have evolved into an ancient life form, I have the power and knowledge of the great ones and I will rule over this world! As for you I think I'll have you'll have place once you've been _trained_!" Gonzalez said as he turned to Madeline, not noticing that she had gotten her hand around her knife hilt.

"Then take this as my enrollment fee!" Madeline said as she threw the knife, it hit Gonzalez in his right shoulder, it deflected off the metal and Gonzalez looked down and laughed at her defiance.

"YOU FOOL! I am no longer mere flesh and blood, I have evolved! I am Gonzalez, Gonzalez the Conqueror!" He declared as his wings shined before a blast of water shot at him from the robbed figure pushing Gonzalez back and the robbed figure moved forward to stand between them he gestured down the passage towards the entrance.

"Move; I'll be right behind you!" He said as water started to form around him that formed ice lances that shot at Gonzalez. Madeline urged her men to move and ran after them, a last look back hoping that she hadn't saved him to send him to his death.

"So the power source is determined to revisits to the end, not what it expected from a Dark Lord." Gonzalez said as an energy screen blocked the ice lances as he watched the figure in the robe jump off the wall and dashed away down the passage way after the others, a wall of ice forming between them. Gonzalez looked at the wall of ice and drew his arms backwards and punched forward, releasing a blast of gold energy that shattered the wall, only to reveal another wall farther down the hallway. He chuckled and walked towards the new wall, fully commented to finishing his former comrades.

Will huffed as he looked at the metal things before him as he stood barring them from getting at the _Aronnax _as they gathered in front of him. Taking out that centaur thing had improved the odds for a while but the second one had destroyed one of the Mag Knight's second arms before he had taken it down and the upper right limb spat sparks as he looked at the skeletons that were still attacking him._ Perfect, only three of them left and I'm down to one arm to fight them! I can only hope I can get them._ Will thought as he looked at his three opponents and waited for them to make the next movie. Two of them charged at him and the other stood back, he lashed out with the cables at one of them and moved to throw it into the other when the one at the back spat some black tar at him. It hit the window and he tried to strike at the two closer and he heard a clang as he hit one and used his right hand to clean off the window, seeing one of them coming at his broken side he turned and grabbed it and threw it at the one that had spat tar at him. _I don't know if I can beat these things! If one more centaur turns up leading a part of these things, if they get…_ Will thought as he made a choice.

"KAIKO, IF I SAY MOVE YOU GET THE _ARONNAX _OUT OF HERE!" Will said as he tried to keep the things in sight as they tried to get at him.

"Will I'm not leaving you!" Kaiko said through the radio as Will tried to keep his eyes on the skeletons getting back up.

"DON'T ARGUE! Kaiko I need you get away from here and get the kids, I'll do what I can to survive, but you all need to live!" Will said as he struck out with his Knight's remain arm. He scowled as he raised his arm and blocked the tar the remaining skeleton still standing shot at him and tried to grab it.

Kaiko could only watch from the bridge and cursed the fact that there was nothing she could do to help Will. _I need to talk to Professor Fiction about some non-lethal armaments, maybe a water canon or two? Ant, Fontaine; please get back here soon and help your father!_ Kaiko thought as she looked at the drone's view and thought about using it until she finally notice her children's signal and sent the drone towards them.

"Perfect, they're not too far away, just hold on Will. Wait, why are there more people with them? And is one of them blue and what's that thing floating above them?" Kaiko asked as she moved the drone and saw a picture of the group running back towards where the sub was docked. _Where did they come from and what are they wearing? And is that a child?_ Kaiko thought as she moved the drone closer her kids to see clearer.

Fontaine kept one eye on her radio as she moved behind the group next to the knight, ever since they had lost contact with her parents a pit had formed in her stomach. The knight had woken up and after the others had stopped him from attacking he had dropped back while his friend, the Aqua Strike had moved to just behind him as they ran towards the _Aronnax_, every so often the Knight would shoot her looks as they moved, something clearly on his mind. _Okay, maybe we are related to the royal family of Lemuria but do we look that much like whoever they knew? And given what I can guess these things aren't a security mechanism, so what are they, the attackers? But how did they survive all these years, what's powering them?_ _And why can't I get raise mom or dad? _Fontaine thought as she moved and tried to get a signal to the sub.

"Fontaine to _Aronnax_ can you read me, Ant and I are almost there-" Fontaine began before Kaiko interrupted.

"FONTAINE! Oh I am so glad you're okay! I can't reach you and your brother, I'm using a drone to relay get back here now, the _Aronnax _is under attack and your father is being an idiot!" Kaiko said causing Fontaine to stumble and collide with a wall, causing the group to look back at her.

"You're being attacked?! Are they some kind of black metal things with axes for left limbs?" Fontaine said as the others overheard Fontaine's words and Ant started to look worried as Jeffrey started to snarl softly.

"How do you….were you and Ant attacked, are you okay? And where did those people and creatures come from?" Kaiko asked as Fontaine looked around and saw one of their drones hovering above them.

"It's a long story mom but what about dad, is he okay?" Ant demand as the group around him and his sister started to understand something was wrong with their saviors family.

"Will wants me to move the _Aronnax_ away from shore and leave him, get here as fast as you can so we can get out of here!" Kaiko said as the others gathered around either her or Ant as he found the frequency and broadest it through external speakers. The survivors looked at each other and the knight took a step forward as a blue lance formed in his right hand.

"Are there any pictures you noticed on the buildings where you ship is mam?" The knight asked as he and Aqua Strike looked towards the shoreline. Fontaine looked up and frowned as she tried to remember.

"Yeah; a gold fish." Fontaine said absentmindedly as she looked towards him only for the knight to nod at her and dash forward with Aqua Strike following behind him as he jumped onto a two story roof top and moved towards the docks.

"Don't worry, he knows this city like the back of his hand, but I suggest we hurry so we can provide help!" The four armed humanoid said as he moved past Ant much faster while the others took off running, Ant looked at Fontaine before following with Jeffry floating above him. Fontaine followed after them as fast as her mech could move, all that she think of was the hope that the knight would get there and save her father's life.

Will struck out at the last of the three skeletons when something stuck the his suit's fist and bringing the arm into view he saw it had black tar on it and cursed when he turned his mech and saw five of the claw skeletons charging at him with another centaur behind them. He gritted his teeth and prepared to buy Kaiko time to get away when a bolt of blue energy slammed into them. Following where the blot of energy had come from his saw a knight in blue armor standing next to a blue humanoid with blade hands come charging at the centaur that turned and met the newcomers with its lances. Will looked at them for a few seconds before the claw skeletons were upon hum and he started to try and defend himself. The knight spared a look and faltered when he saw Will's face before instincts caused him to jump to the side, dodging a blow from the centaur as Aqua Strike started to slash and try to hit the any of the centaur's gems.

Will grabbed one of the claw skeletons and threw it against one of the buildings breaking the thrown skeleton and before he could move at one of the other two he felt something holding his suits legs, looking down he saw black tar holding his legs to the ground. One of the skeletons jumped at his mech's window and just before it reached him a bolt of energy pierced its gem and it fell to the ground before Will noticed a purple horned serpent with two arms come flying at the other skeleton and grapple with it and Will watched as the serpent curled its tail around the skeleton's body before it shot a blast of energy that destroyed the gem and threw the skeleton at the last one before another blast shattered its head. Will looked on in shock as the knight and the humanoid made short work of the centaur and tensed when the serpent untangled itself and turned towards him with a familiar looking smile on its face._ That can't be…can it?_ Will thought as he looked at the serpent.

"DAD! ARE YOU OKAY?" Ant's voice came over the radio and Will looked up and breathed a little easier when he saw the party coming towards with the Swamp Knight and White Knight leading the way and Ant stopped at the serpent and patted it with his real arms, the Swamp Knight second arms miming the movements.

"Good boy Jeffrey, good boy saving dad!" Ant said with a smile. Will's mouth dropped open and he looked from the serpent to the Swamp Knight and saw the broken jorange and looking at the serpent, Jeffry, and noticed that it, Jeffry still had the same coloration. He just stared as he was eye to eye with Jeffry's smiling face and looked at the horns, claws and teeth before he turned to look at Ant who smiled.

"Ant, explain? This is Jeffry how, why and who are they?" Will asked as he gestured towards the other people and the four armed humanoid who grinned, revealing needle like teeth.

"No idea, he just changed and saved us! Oh, I think their Lemurians! They were trapped in this strange energy field, weird hu?" Ant said as Will looked at the others in shock and dared to believe. He tried to move towards the _Aronnax _and cursed when the Mag Knight stopped moving. Will got out and started to look it over and felt a shadow fall over him that he didn't pay attention to it, think it was Ant or Fontaine as he looked the Mag Knight's legs over before finding the problem.

"Great, we'll have to leave it here." Will commented before a voice spoke up behind him.

"The damage and torn off sections then, I would think something like this could handle a little salt water." The voice asked as Will looked at the Knight and answered without thinking about it.

"No, the water fine, we need to give this Knight a full refit anyway and it's easy enough but the motivators are the problem, the last gunk blast seeped in and caused a short circuit, if we could get it into the water the Swamp Knight and the White Knight could…." Will said, stopping when he realized he wasn't talking to his children, turning his head he saw the four armed humanoid was grinning down at him as one of his hands with drew a blue square from his pouch.

"Allow me to get it to the water then sir, but I should wait until the others are closer to getting into this wonderful submersible in case any other Darkness monstrosities turn up so these Knight piloted by your children? Yes, your children could help the defender keep us safe." The Humanoid said as Will just looked at him.

Madeline charged out the opening into the cavern and stopped, looking about she saw black things with axes for arms fought against the claw things that had attacked them and the claw things were wining. As the others reached her she turned and saw the robbed figure pulling the door they had run from earlier closed and shot a blast of ice that froze the wall the door was on. Running towards them he stopped when he saw the metal creatures. _I see my brother made a few innovations to his minions and some of my creations still function. Still perhaps I shouldn't tell these people they were mine, yes that would make a perfect story, I just hope they believe it_. It thought as it looked at the others.

"I see my brothers are still fighting, because of course they would be." It muttered causing Madeline to turn and look at him in shock, staring slack jawed for a few seconds before she exploded.

"YOUR BROTHERS MADE THOSE THINGS!?" She demanded as the robbed figure just chuckled weakly as it shot a blast of blue energy at the ground before the ramp and raised an ice wall half as high as the ship creature they had escaped out of._ Okay so those things can't get us now, but how are we going to get back to the Dark Orca?_ Madeline thought as she looked at the ice.

"Great, now how are we to get out of here?" One of the pirates asked causing the figure to chuckle. It raised its right hand and shot a blast of ice at one of the claw skeletons that was trying to charge at them, freezing it in its tracks as it charged at them and it turned and fire a blast, raising its hand upward as it did so and formed a staircase of ice that looped around to the top of the golden ship creature. It looked at Madeline and gestured upwards before speaking.

"I believe that it would be best to try and defend ourselves from the high ground, we can talk later." The figure said as it gestured towards the stairs it had created. Madeline turned her head when she felt the others looking at her and kept what she was feeling from her face._ So far this thing has been calling the shots, but I'll let it pass for now and I don't know how long what it did will hold either them or that traitor back!_ Madeline thought as she moved towards the stairs before turning and scowled when she saw the others were standing still.

"Move if you want to live idiots!" She snarled as she ran up the stairs, the robed figure right behind her as the others finally started to move up the ice stairs. As they ran they heard a crack behind them and they ran faster, hoping to see the shape of the _Dark Orca _coming towards themsoon. As they reached the top the robbed figure reached down and put a hand on the ice and it all seemed to rush into him and as he got back he gestured for them to move to the center, Madeline understanding that it hopped that Gonzalez would think the wall of ice was to slow him down, not keep the others out until it was too late for him.

Gonzalez chuckled as he walked into what he now knew was the beast pens, a part of him looking about and wondering where he should put Madeline before he could _reeducate_ her to her proper station in life until he could find a way to ascend her. He walked out of the pens and chuckled at what he saw. _Did that idiot think a wall of ice outside the hull will stop me, is he counting on me to have lost enough mana to stop here, he must not have dealt with my kind in the past._ Gonzalez thought as he raised a hand and sent a golden bolt at the ice wall, breaking it and his smirk dropped as he saw the black metallic skeletons fighting each other, the battle stopping as they all turned and looked at him. Gonzalez scowl grew as he looked around and didn't see any of the people he was chasing and looked at the black metal skeletons as they moved towards him. As he looked at the charging robotic things, he clenched his fists and a golden glow formed over his fists, he started to chuckle darkly.

"Clever, very clever. I wonder, was this your plan, did you make the walls inside so I would break this wall?" He had time to ask before the skeletons were within striking distance; he jabbed at their centers and dodged the axe and claw strikes. Two of them tried to come at him from his signs and he jumped over their heads in a summersault and smirked when he noticed a bit of ice on the top of the golden ship creature. As he landed some of the skeletons fired black tar like bolts at him and he just beat his wings and flew upwards and pointed his arms at them and fired bolts aimed at their heads, destroying them and send their corpses to the ground. _So that's where they are, I can't leave these things alone, they might destroy my new base and I will need the material to make a few servants._ Gonzalez thought as he savaged the attackers absentmindedly as he looked upwards. As soon as he destroyed the last skeleton he smirked as he observed the carnage he had created and reached down and picked up a torn limb and smiled at what he could do with it. This was just the first victory, the first brick that would create the foundation to let him conquer the world.

"And once I've captured both my new toy and the power source and given to those two the smiting they deserve for throwing my offer back into my face, I think I'll make sure I have my defenses before I begin to take this place." Gonzalez said out loud as he looked upwards and decided how he would reach that elevation to deal with them before he reflexively flexed his new wings and started to look his shadow, paying attention to the shade cast by them._ What the hell, shock and awe is always the best approach and those fools most likely were after the high ground, best take that from them and go from there._ Gonzalez thought as he looked up word and grinned wickedly.

"It's quite down there, think he's died?" One of the pirates asked before Gonzalez shot upward and hovered with his arms crossed looking down at the four figures with a grin on his face.

"SCATTER!" Madeline screamed as the robbed figure created four ice lances and shot them at Gonzalez who lazily dodged them and looked downward and laughed as he floated there, relishing their efforts.

Finn looked through the periscope and cursed the fact that Madeline had left, Hammerhead had said she had gone because she had convinced that they were greater bounty to be found away from where the battles had happened. _Of course Mads had to remember what I said once about that paper I read about that dig that discovered that the city had fallen to war and where the most stuff was found. I just hope…what in the name of the oceans?_ Finn thought as he jolted back before leaning in and looking at what he had seen.

"Oh hell. Captain we've got a big problem!" Finn said as he transferred what he was seeing to a monitor. Hammerhead turned to Finn then looked at the monitor in complete shock as he tried to rationalize what he was seeing. On the monitor a figure with golden wings on his back and was firing blots of energy down at Madeline, two others and someone in a robe. He felt his temper start to grow as he watched as the recruit started to rain fire down on his daughter and a snarl grew as he watched. He turned his head when he notices in the reflection that Finn had gained the same look and smirked._ For all the problems I have with him at least I know he still cares about his family like me._ Hammerhead thought before he looked at the screen and frowned.

"Are me eyes playing tricks or is the winged fellow one of our recruits?" Danny asked causing both Hammerhead and Finn to look closely at the winged figure and frown. Hammerhead tried to identify him when Finn magnified the winged one's face and started to curse.

"Oh hell, it's Gonzalez, one of our problem cases!" Finn said as he cursed as he watched with a sense of worry as Gonzalez block ice lances of all things that he flew around and shot at them with the golden blasts._ What the heck did he do to himself? And why is the fact he's not trying to hurt Maddie bothering me so much?_ Finn thought as Hammerhead raised an eyebrow at his son's words.

"Problem case, what's his damage?" Hammerhead demanded as Finn turned to him with a wince on his face.

"He had a problem listing to mine or Maddie's orders, something about kids should be seen and not heard?" Finn said as Hammerhead turned back to the monitor and tried to figure out how he could get Madeline and her group back into the _Dark Orca_. _That one is a traitor, which is a hard thing to stomach for any kind of captain. But he must know our plans to deal with 'problems' but wait, he's new._ Hammerhead though as he tried to figure out some way around this and realized a sliver of hope.

"How new is he?" Hammerhead asked as he turned to Finn who turned back to him. Finn looked at him and raised an eyebrow before answering him.

"He's been with us for a month, so what?" Finn asked only to grow more confused as Hammerhead started to laugh.

"PERFECT! Finn go open the Moon Pool and Danny-Boy prepare a Gas Clouder and target the top o that ship! Finn tell Madeline to do what the Nektons did the first time they got away from you!" Hammerhead said as Finn started to grin as he realized just what he father had planned.

Madeline cursed as she realized she didn't have any more knives and looked at the robbed figure. The ice lances it had shot at Gonzalez were starting to increase in speed but decrease in number. _ He's slowing down, I'm not sure why but he is. Oh stupid I know why! He's still not recovered from whatever that thing was doing to him. Dad I really hope you get here soon._ Madeline thought as she looked up at Gonzalez and wondered how her people would get out of this alive. Her radio activated a second later before Finn's voice came over it and

"Maddie get ready; remember how the Ant and Fontaine got away from me that time before the volcano, do that when you'll know!" Finn said causing Madeline to run towards the robbed figure.

"When I say now take a deep breath and don't ask questions!" Madeline said before Gonzales started to laugh.

"Planning something my dear, really what do you think you'll be able to do?" He sneered down at them a few moments before a jet engine was heard and a missile flew up before turning in midair, Madeline began moving as soon as she saw the missile.

"NOW!" Madeline cried as she pulled the robbed figure towards the edge with the others following behind her taking a deep breath. The missile hit the deck, releasing a large cloud that covered twenty feet in all directions. Madeline went over the sideThey hit the water and Madeline saw the _Dark Orca_ and swam towards the underside, the figure following behind her as the other two moved after them as Madeline smirked. Swimming into the moon pool she pulled herself onto the deck and took deep breaths of air as she looked towards the 'person' she had saved and saw his rob looked the same as before they had hit the water, another thing to ask him about.

"MADS!" Finn called as he ran into the chamber and looked at the people on the floor and grabbed her in a hug, she started to squirm after a few seconds.

"Hey Finn, stop acting like this let, me go!" Madeline said as Finn started to laugh and let her go, looking about at the other two before he caught sight of the robbed figure. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at his sister only for her to shrug her shoulders.

"Found 'em in that thing we jumped from, cables came out of the walls and grabbed one of my men, says the golden thing we were in was alive." Madeline said as Finn just looked at Madeline in total shock and just looked at the robbed figure as it stood up.

Will ran through the halls, the women, teen and four armed humanoid following behind him. After they had gotten the Mag Knight into the water and Will and the group he was leading had gotten into the Araonax Kaiko had reported that Ant and Fontaine had entered the moon pool and recovered the Mag Knight and was heading for the bridge. Will looked over his shoulder at the two women and teen who had looks of wonder on their faces as they followed him.

"This is; I can't even describe this how?" The woman in the robe asked as she looked around in shock as she looked at the tube of water along the wall._ This is incredible, I mean they were working on something like this a lot smaller before we were attacked, but how long did it take for people to come back to the city and free us?_ The woman thought as she followed the others onto a large hall like place with a woman sitting at a small table at the front with a floating screen in front of the table. Whales were shown on it and she frowned as she noticed the younger ones were moving while a few of the older ones were swimming towards the castle.

"Will, the whales are starting to move, we have to leave now!" The woman said as she looked ahead and Will frowned as he looked at the screen._ The pod is breaking up, why? We didn't see anything that pointed towards this place being a graveyard but what could they be doing_

"The giants are splitting, that means this ship must be travel under the water?" The humanoid asked as the woman turned and stared for a few seconds before she nodded.

"Yes and with Hammerhead and his crew here we have to make sure they leave, we can't let them stay here, wait 'Giants'!?" Kaiko said as Will nodded. _No matter how we feel about each other I wouldn't leave them to whatever attacked us, and how would they survive here really? Wait what? _Will thought as he whipped his head to stare at the humanoid as he registered what he had heard.

"Yes, we call the great mammals of the seas Giants, well the ancient's did." The woman in the robe said and stared as Kaiko turned and looked back at her. _By the oceans this is insane! First people who are a copies of the Prince and Princess; then one of the King and finally the Queen? What web is fate spinning, what next the Monarchs of Old have been freed?_ She thought as Kaiko looked at Will as Ant and Fontaine came onto the bride with Jeffrey, the knight and the Aqua Strike behind them. The Knight looked about and whistled softly as he saw what was on the bridge, some part of him understood what he was seeing might have looked like what he had seen before but was so different it was from another world.

"Mom, did you find the pirates yet?" Ant asked as he rushed to her station as Fontaine trailed behind and looked at the people they had brought aboard._ I really hope they don't cause us any trouble._ Fontaine thought as she moved to her station and called up a window showing their radar. As she read what was on the screen she frowned as she notice the whales were splitting up and some of them were moving towards the castle at the cavern's edge. She frowned as she looked at the screen, trying to put what she was seeing into content with her theory that whales could remember their history.

"Found them finally, when I get my hands around Hammerhead's neck, if those pirates have damaged anything here I'll….what are those things and is that a person with **WINGS**!?" Kaiko asked as a golden ships beached on a shoreline appeared, two types of black metal skeletons fighting each other, above one of the largest golden ships was a man with wings hovering above the water. Kaiko enlarged the winged figure to reveal a man with golden armor on his shoulders and wings on his back and claw shaped boots. A gasped caused the Nektons to turn and saw the woman in the robe with her hands over her mouth, the others had paled as well and they all looked scared.

"An Uplifted, but how could….the Atlantian attack force, one of them must have survived! But the others that attacked, why didn't they kill it?" The woman in the robesaid as she stared at the screen in horror causing Will to stare at her.

"Atlantis, wait wasn't that just another term for the Lemurian Empire?" Will asked causing the four armed humanoid to start to sputter as the woman in the

"What? No! Atlantis was what those who would become the Lemurian Empire rebelled against! Don't you know anything….you don't know. What happened to cause the world to forget what they sacrificed to save all?" The woman in the apron asked before the _Aronnax _bucked. Kaiko started to call up a diagnostic screen and cursed when she was what was it revealed.

"We've been hit, damage in upper corridors, the doors were closed but we've been open to the water there and the controls to the ballast are damaged we can't go lower or rise!" Kaiko said as the holo screen from the drone they still had up there showed the…_Ascended_ firing blasts into the water. _He has to be trying to hit the Dark Orca, but why?_ Will thought as he tried to figure out he would get his family out of this. The four armed humanoid walked towards Kaiko and looked down at her station before turning to her.

"Go out in the Knights, could we escape with them and make it to a passing ship?" Will asked as he tried to remember where they were in relation to help.

"We're too far off the shipping lanes, we'd never make it before the cold kills us even if we all use the Rover we'd never be able to take enough supplies for everyone!" Kaiko said as the

"What about the Aqua Strike, could we be reversed?" The young boy asked quietly to the woman in the apron who only shook her head. _'Reversed'? What are they talking about?_ Ant thought as he tried to listen in and

"The honorable Technician only has at most one Aqua Suit and even with their inventions we'd have no way back across, and that's if their mana is active. I don't know how we will survive this." She answered just as the four armed humanoid spoke up.

"Madam I might be able to repair the damage but I'd need to copy your knowledge on how this amazing machine is put together, now I have to warn you that if I do that your mind will be affected by the process. Nothing to bad but you're reflexes will be…impaired for a few minutes if your mana is awake, if not then ten minutes at best, twenty at the worst." The humanoid said as it looked at her. Kaiko bit her lips and looked at Will and her children and nodded as she got up.

"Fontaine, you're the best behind me so you drive. Back the way we came, Ant grab a rebreather and show him where the damages sections are and close the section before it…can you breath in water?" Kaiko asked as she walked towards Fontaine's station, her daughter stood up and looked at her as Will walked towards her. The humanoid nodded and walked after her as she sat down.

"Kaiko, are you sure?" Will asked as he looked at her, she smiled at him as the humanoid put one of his hands onto her head. Kaiko nodded before her eyes glowed blue and she slumped against the station as the humanoid stepped back and shook his head. Will held her as she panted as Ant and Fontaine looked on in concern as the woman in the robe nodded to herself._ She is just like the Queen and how he's acting, he's like his ancestor._ She thought as Will looked over Kaiko to reassure himself she was okay.

"Woooh. That was like the worst head cold and waking up after that double date we went on with my sister and her boyfriend back in college." Kaiko said as she massaged her forehead as Fontaine moved towards the front station as she looked over her shoulder at her mother.Ant looked at Kaiko before running towards the door, Jeffry floating after him with the humanoid hurrying after them. _Get him there fast little brother, Finn I hope you're getting your family out of here._ Fontaine thought as she moved the ship towards where the drop into the tunnel they had entered the cavern was.

Ant dashed through the hallway as he tried not to let his worry cloud his judgment. Ant thought as he moved, stopping at the doorway into the corridor before the damaged section. He stopped and looked back, seeing Jeffry floating there and the blue humanoid behind them. _Stay focused Ant, if we're locked in here who knows what will happen to us, we have to get out of here and the damages have to be repaired._ _But can I let him go alone, with what might be there?_ Ant thought as he looked at the humanoid and tried not to let his worry show.

"The damaged is right after the section at the far end, just go straight ahead after the section floods." Ant said as the humanoid nodded at him.

"Thank you, and don't worry I can handle anything that might come at me." The humanoid said as Ant looked at him and sighed. He shot a look towards Jeffry and when he saw his friend point at the humanoid and then point at himself before nodding.

"Okay, but Jeffry's going with you, he can back you up and help you if something attacks you two." Ant said as the humanoid looked from Ant to Jeffry and laughed._ Oh this boy, he is just like my old student! I wonder if he needs to learn how to summon, perhaps he will even awaken the Cyber Weapons._ The humanoid thought as he looked at Ant.

"Oh my boy I think I will like working with you all! Someone to watch my back is always welcome, oh and the name is Ver'gill my boy, but call me Vergil!" Vergill said as he entered the section with Jeffry following and Ant closed the door behind them. Ant looked at closed door and opened the door to the damaged section and dashed towards the Moon Pool, something telling him he should get to White Knight fast. As he ran he activated his communicator and called the bridge.

"Mom, dad, I know you'll probably say no but I'm going out in the White Knight." Ant said before turning off his communicator as he ran. _Well I'm going to be grounded, but we'll all be alive at least._ Ant thought as he entered the Moon Pool.

Vergill looked back at the door before turning towards the floating creature to his side as he waited for the water to come and wondered just where it had come from; you rarely saw hybrids of its nature in the _wild_ so Vergil wondered just what it's past was. As water flowed over him Vergill braced himself to stay where he was once the water stopped he started swimming towards the damaged section. After a few moments he reached the exit to the corridor and walked into a scene of total devastating. A round hole about five feet wide passed through the hull of the ship and down into the ship to the level below, the reason the water had stopped was both section had been flooded and looking around he let his mind go over the blue print he had copied from Kaiko and saw the circuit that had been damaged by the blast and reached for one of his devices when a black tentacle shot from the hole and went around his gills! Looking up he saw three more tentacles pressing into the hole and saw a black skeleton centaur with flippers for legs and a finned tail for a lower body with four tentacles for arms on a chest with a fanged grin looking at him. _oh dear so some of them are still active after all._ Vergill thought as he grabbed the tentacle with three of his hands as Jeffrey growled and was about to shoot a blast at it when two black skeleton mermen with clawed hands with black gems set into their palms appeared behind the centaur. As tried to force the tentacle away from him he wondered how he survive when suddenly one the two skeleton mermen lost its head as something blasted it!

Ant appeared behind the three skeletons in the White Knight and started to use the Knight's cutting laser on the centaur as Jeffrey fired a blast from his horns at the base of the tentacle holding Vergill and blasted it off the centaur! He charged through the opening at the other skeleton merman and started to grapple with it as Vergill pulled the limp tentacle off himself._ As brave as the Prince, and I bet his mother will give him a lector on this as the Queen did!_ Vergill thought as he closed his eyes and sent his mana to identify the repairs that were needed and winced as he saw the problems that had to be dealt with. He looked out at the battle and started to think about how to best do this.

Ant dodged one the three remaining tentacles and saw Jeffry shot the head off the skeleton merman and smirked as he started to circle the centaur as he grinned. _Great! Even if that thing has three limbs to strike at us, two on one will let us even up the odds! Just got to buy time for him to do what he has to then me and Jeffrey can fall back to the Moon Pool!_ Ant thought as he looked around and his face fell when he saw three more skeleton mermen coming towards them, realizing that if there were more than there might be a lot more. He barely dodged a blow from one of the tentacles and wondered how many more there were when he felt something in his head.

_**Can you two hear me?**_Ant dodged out of range and fired the laser at the centaur as Jeffry started to hover infront the hole and fired blasts at the Centaur driving it back.

"Vergill, how are you?" Ant wondered as he moved the White Knight, dodging blows from the centaur's tentacles as he spoke.

_**Later lad, for now both of you need to get hold that thing off for a few more minutes once the hole is closed get aboard and drain the water so I can put all my man on keeping the hull whole! **_Vergill sent as Ant nodded. A look showed that Jeffrey had taken out another of the tenticles and the mermen will still far enough away

"Got it, let me know when you're finished!" Ant said as he shot another tentacle off and looking at the reinforcements seemed to be holding back._ They have to be waiting for more of them to get here, so it's a race then, will he finish or will those things overtake us. Great I really hope we can win this race._ Ant thought as he watched Jeffrey fire a bolt into the centaur hoping to hit its power source. As the centaur sank as Jeffrey got a lucky shot Ant then saw the two skeleton mermen swim closer in. C_ome on, hurry!_ Ant thought as he gritted his teeth and looked at the sonar on the Knight, trying to detect any movement that might even hint at more of the skeleton mermen. A blue glow from the _Aronnax _caused Ant to look and saw the hole was patched and the glow was spreading along the side of the sub.

_**DONE! MOVE!**_Vergill sent to Ant and Jeffery and both shot towards the moon pool and within moments Ant hand climbed onto the chamber and slipped out of the Knight and within moments had used the control panel to vent the water in the damaged sections. Ant sighed as he felt the _Aronnax _move and speed up._ So we beat them, that's perfect, so I guess I'm grounded for a few years._ Ant thought as he looked at Jeffrey and smiled shakily.

"Well let's go back to the bridge and see our executors." Ant said as they left the Moon Pool.

"So are we punishing him or are we just so happy he's still in one piece?" Kaiko asked Will as they watched Ant go back into the Moon Pool. They hadn't been able to overwrite the control for the Moon Pool doors and had only been able to watch

"Well we're fixed and we are so out of here!" Fontaine said as she piloted the the _Aronnax _toward the tunnel and put the sub into a dive. Kaiko sent the drone towards the castle and set up a record and save operation; with the 'solar energy' from the crystal it would stay active until they could come back for it. _So we have about half a year to find a way back here to at least download the memory, I just hope we can get back here safely._ Kaiko thought as she fought back against her headache. Fontaine looked at the sonars reading and saw the _Dark Orca_ ahead of them. _Why are they going so fast, I guess they were attacked by that thing two._ Fontaine thought as she smirked slightly.

"The Pirates are ahead of us, and their going fast. I guess they want to get away from that guy a lot." Fontaine said with a sarcastic edge to her voice. Her father looked up from checking over Kaiko's vitals as he felt the sub dive, a scowl forming as he saw the _Dark Orca_. Will looked down when Kaiko squeezed his arm and he moved his head closer to hers.

"What I can't get is how Hammerhead found us, was it chance or is there a leak at World's Oceans?" Kaiko muttered causing Will to chuckle back lightly.

"Chance, probably. I've always thought their base was in the Northern Hemisphere. They probably came across us and decided to track us down and try to steal anything they could." Will replied softly to her as she laughed and nodded.

"Probably, thought about what we're going to tell Commander Pyrosome?" Kaiko shot back and Will winced._ That's the question, at first I thought about tell them but then that would lead into the Monumentials and the chance someone could wake them up, I guess we're just have to wing it with her._ Will think as he looks at thescreen

"We can tell her we lost the whale when it swam thought an iceberg." Will proposed as Kaiko just laughed and nodded at him. Will held her when the _Aronnax_ lurched to the side. Kaiko looked up and saw whales swim by them and frowned._ Wait, that's the pod, some of them at least and that's the whale we're tracking. So they go into the tunnel and some stay there but why? And what causes them to know when to go out again?_ Kaiko thought through her head's pounding as she looked at the screen. She squeezed Will's hand and when he looked at her she gestured with her head at the front and he nodded and squeezed her hand before walking towards the

"Fontaine contact the _Dark Orca_, I want to have a word with 'Captain' Hammerhead. But keep what he sees limited; I don't want him to know we rescued anyone." Will said as the _Aronnax _dove through the tunnel and dodged the Whales. As they passed through the gateway Hammerhead finally decided to talk to them.

"HELLO NEKTONS! So you've been after Lemuria all this time, bet you and yours had a real laugh how you were hiding in plain sight all these years!" Hammerhead said with a sneer. Fontaine looked over her shoulder at her father and mother who looked as confused as she felt at Hammerhead's words.

"Everyone knew what I was searching for Hammerhead, most people just didn't believe it was possible that I was right." Will said as he crossed his arms and looked at Hammerhead.

"Don't lie to me Nekton! You kept that Lemuira thing secret so you could have all the treasure for yourself! Well once I've got some better weapons I'm coming back here and I'll kill those things and I'll….I'll?" Hammerhead trailed off as he looked into space. Fontaine looked down at her monitor and gasped, bring up a monitor that showed the mountain was _sinking_. As they all watched the mountain stopped when the tip was about fifteen feet above volcano's mouth. The whales had gone towards the surface as soon as they left the tunnel and hadn't stopped though the sonar had detected a sound as the mountain sank that Fontaine recorded and Will smiled at Hammerhead.

"I would love to stay and talk Hammerhead but we have repairs to make. Good luck getting back there anytime soon!" Will said as he cut the connection and turned to his daughter.

"Fontaine get the _Aronnax _moving towards home base, and drop a sonar beacon, if anything happens here I want to know about it. So I guess all we have left to do is learn who our passengers are." Will said as he turned to the other people on the bridge as Ant and Jeffrey came back.

"The points too close to the volcano for us to go Cap'n, I think we lost this one." Danny Boy said as he looked at his captain. Hammerhead just slammed a hand against the wall as he looked at the _Aronnax _as it moved away from the underwater mountain and scowled as he looked into the water. _Plunder aplenty left where we can't there but we got enough for a good payday at least. Maybe I should contact that old man about an auction._ Hammerhead thought as a noise behind him caused him to turn, wincing when something struck him. Looking down he smiled at his daughter as she hugged him. Rubbing her head he looked up at Finn as he walked in, his face strangely neutral and began to give his report.

"All the loot was put away safely and he missed on all his blasts and we got away clean. With the payday we've got I think we can repair this crate and maybe get a few actual weapons." Finn said as Hammerhead looked at him over his daughter's head and nodded at his son._ Once we get back to base and repair the Orca, maybe I'll let that mad scientist tinker with his mini-sub idea, if we could get some armor like the Nektons then we could!_ He stopped when he saw a figure in a black robe stand behind Finn and stared. Finn caught his eyes and nodded at his father with a smirk.

"Oh, him? He came with Maddy, something about him telling her how to escape the body of the **living ship** she went in." Finn said causing Hammerhead to look down at Madeline in total shock. Shaking his head he looked at the figure as Madeline let go of him and he pushed her behind him as he looked at the figure.

"I don't make it a habit to let people I don't know onto my sub so declare your-self before I make you walk the plank!" Hammerhead said as Finn stepped back as Madeline shot a look at her father before the figure started to chuckle darkly as three eyes started to glow black. _ What the, he ain't human…._ Hammerhead as the figure reached up with its arms, revealing two pale purple arms with black veins criss crossing them ending in hands with sharp looking black claws. It pulled back its hood to reveal a face with three pure black eyes, the third set into its forehead. It had blue hair that was shaped into teen tentacles with two framed its head. It grinned at the people on the bridge with sharp pointy teeth for a few seconds before it started to speak.

"Ahhhh Pirates! Truly my favorite of those who play the sea! I supposed that I should introduce myself. I am Abador, master of Dark Science and Cybernetic reanimation! And I owe my freedom to your daughter good sir so I offer my services to you, for as long as you don't mind my experiments that is." Abador said as Finn stared at him as Hammerhead started to look thoughtful. _Of course dad is going to recruit this guy! Why oh why does the term _Cybernetic reanimation _full me with such wonderful feelings, I think I'd better look into maybe making a lock or watcher on my door from now on._ Finn thought as he watched what would happen next.

"Dark Science, what could you give to me that I couldn't find anywhere else on this planet?" Hammerhead asked as Abador started to chuckle as he put his hands into his robes and tried to project a sense of ancient wisdom. Finn just stared at the scene and he started to feel a bit alarmed at what he was watching. As a pipe started to leak overhead Abador looked about and after a few seconds turned to look at Hammerhead.

"For one thing once we're at a safe location above the waters I will be able to call to my…._laboratory_ and summon it into this world, once it's here I will be able to reforge this….machine however you want, stronger weapons, harder but lighter armor and I can train you all in how to duel, how to summon creatures that you can control, and I offer to create any wonder of science that you would desire, if it is possible of course." Abador said as he waited for Hammerhead to reply. Hammerhead just looked and started to grin. _Me own Knight! And enough to arm me crew, once that's done we can salvage all those wonders of the deep that depth kept from me._ Hammerhead thought as he looked at Abador and started to laugh.

"Abador, welcome aboard! Danny-Boy, set course for home, we're going to repair this thing then we're heading to the Shipwrecked City to sell our goods! Finn contact that rat at World's Ocean, I want to know why they were up here in the first place!" Hammerhead said as he started to laugh as Finn just stared at him with a blank face, a part of him sure that one day that he would look back on this as either the start of something good or terrible.

Gonzalass snarled hovered over the water as he looked down at where the Nektons and Hammerhead's crew had escaped from him and shot a blast into the tunnel. He looked down at the water and cursed that he couldn't break the surface just yet and survive the depths, he would have to let them go and just hope that one day he get another chance to finish them off or capture them.

"Idiot! I should have captured the Nektons before trying to force the Orca back to the surface! Had to go for broke didn't you?" He muttered under his breath as he floated there. After a few minutes he looked back towards where his sire's remains were and saw that the corpse was slowly falling apart. He bowed his head to the remains and looked over the city. With its last strength the Wave Conqueror had been given him a great gift of both power and knowledge and with what he had been given he knew that he might be the last of the Atlantian lords, although how newly risen that he was he might not be one for long. Looking towards the gate castle in the distance he saw it close as the last of the giants moved into the gate and nodded, his mind going at lightspeed as plans were made and discarded as he floated there. Looking back he let his thoughts slow down and started to decide what he would do._ The first thing I should do is find out if any transport models have anything in them and go from there. The command codes I inherited will let me control anything that might still be active and then I can take them to one that gate complex and start setting up a place to raid from. Once I have enough forces to make a beachhead I should decide if I want to take this place or try and see what's in the under river._ He thought before he started to fly along the shoreline of the city, his eyes going over the corpses of the Storm Patrollers that crashed during the battle so long ago.

After a few minutes he stopped and looked down at a few of the black skeletons that were trying to force open one of the wrecks. _That looks like, but the chances are against me but if I'm lucky then I might have a good start, and if not then I get a good work out._ He thought as he started to smirk two energy blades shot from his hands and he shot at the skeletons. One looked down at a shadow he cast and before any of them could raise their heads he was among them, slashing away at them. As the final skeleton fell he looked up at what they were trying to get into and grinned at what he saw, sending a mana bolt at the ship it opened and he saw its cargo, perhaps he would be able to send forces after his former captain sooner then he thought. He never noticed a glint on top of one of the structures just beyond the shore, he never focused onto a small skull with four insect like legs with a black metal right eye connected to a cord of the black tar substance that led off into the ruins even as a flash of light that flowed through the cord over buildings into the west of the city.

After a while the light reached a section of the city where the black tar was all over, where cords of the material criss crossed the entire section. As it passed humanoid skeletons and centaurs their numbers grew until it reached an area with multiple cords leading into a tower. As the light flowed into it eventually reached a large pool with at least twenty cords connecting with the surface and after the light flowed into the pool a hand breached the surface before multiple bursts of light shoot out and through all the cords as a chuckle was heard from the pool.

"So, things are changing at long last, perhaps this one will open the gateway for me." The voice seemed to echo from all over the tower as a figure dripping the black tar broke the surface of the pool as outside the lights went to different buildings all over the section and red eyes started to glow from within them.

A man with light brown skin and purplish blue hair in a purple wetsuit with golden circuitry on it smiled as he walked through an ancient looking stone passageway with pictograms depleting blocky human like figures in armor with tridents and blocky multi-limbed figures fighting each other. He smirked as he looked around and walked through a doorway into an outer courtyard. The structure he walked out from was made of painted blue stones with the image of circuitry all over them in an ancient looking blocky style. As he moved through the courtyard he stepped over a skeleton in the same armor as in the pictograms and scoffed as he looked about. _To think this was once the heart of the rebellion against Atlantis, one of the places from where Lemuria was born. And of course the fact that this place was one of the places they escaped to when the capital fell, but this seems to have fallen to poor planning._ He thought as he walked out of the courtyard onto a road leading to a pyramid in the distance and a harbor at the other end that was much closer.

He looked up and saw the cavern the site was in and noticed the crystals set on posts here and there that lite up the ruin and sighed as he looked around. He noticed the drones he had released from his ship dart above him as they record the structures and stepped to the side as a few went into the structure he had vacated to record all the pictograms. _Of course if finding the capital was this easy then those old fools would have found the ages ago. And of course that old fool Protous_ _wouldn't have tried to force Ant to make it in the first place._ He thought as he turned around and touched something on his right wrist.

"A.R.I.A., have we found anything besides what I thought we would find here? There aren't any pleasant surprises that will show us where our goal is; was there?" He asked aloud as he walked towards a motorcycle with a trailer attached to it resting in front of the structure he had vacated.

"Negative Alpheus, all searcher units have relayed remains in locations that show signs of starvation, machine cannibalized for components to help hold back falling temperature and signs of ancient rioting. I would expect that the site is in such shape because it has been isolated from the general environment do to where we are." A robotic voice said over speakers built into his suits collar.

"Disappointing; but what I was expecting. Tell me we at least have a few more stories in better shape, any new pictures at least?" Alpheus asked as he got onto the bike and started to drive it towards the pyramid. _So far I've check the harbor and that school, and besides more of that story about those warriors fighting those things I've found nothing new. I wonder why that's been at every site I've found, was it a favorite story of the builders or was it told to teach a lesson or glorify someone, it's not important._ Alpheus thought as he drove through the city, looking about as he slowed down he called up a picture from a drone high above near the cavern ceiling and sighed. So far the drones had recorded and mapped about fifty percent of the ruined city and there was still nothing new, this place was just like the last site he had visited.

He reached the pyramid and drove along one of the sides until he reached the point which had an opening. He looked into the darkness and sighed as he saw a dead light crystal on top of the entrance. _Of course this would have happened here, I wonder if this happened before the riot that happened here or did it happen when they tried to survive by cannibalizing the remnants of their past? Either way I need to make sure I have some light, my suit should help me but I'll need something to carry anything I find in here and I should check my suits oxygen supply if the environment system die out like the lights have. _Alpheus thought as he looked up at the entrance and shrugged his shoulders, what could you do when things like this happened but work against it and beat it.

"A.R.I.A. have a few of the drones come for light and send three of the labor units, I might need them to carry what I find." Alpheus ordered as he called up a hologram of an ebook to read while he waited for the drones to arrive. He looked up a few minutes later when he heard wheels and frowned when he saw three labor units, basically metal torsos with a camera in place of their heads with two arms ending in three pronged hands with three tripod legs ending in wheels and two torsos on a four legs ending in wheels with five fingered hands. Above them floated three flat metallic triangles from which he heard a soft humming as the rotors at their center spun.

"A.R.I.A., why'd you send the medics?" Alpheus asked with an exasperated sigh.

"As per directives on exploration, I am sending you medics in case they are need. And this is a core directive Alpheus, keep you safe at all times." A.R.I.A. said as Alpheus only sighed and looked at the darkness of the opening and decided to deal with it.

"I had to program her that well, didn't i? Very well, medics follow behind the labor units who follow me. Searchers two and three; you go ahead and record everything on the walls. Searcher one: above me we go forward." Alpheus commanded as he walked into the entrance as one of the triangles hovered at his side as the rest of the robots went about their orders. He looked around and rolled his eyes when the light hit pictograms of warriors fighting monsters that breathed fire and giants alongside creatures that looked like they could have come from the sea.

"You know A.R.I.A., I don't think I'll ever get my ancestors obsession with this story, it's been on the walls of at least one building in every site I find." Alpheus mused as he walked through the space and looked around, noting a few marks that showed that battle or scavenging had taken place here. He stopped before one picture of a blue jellyfish like creature fighting a red dragon and walked on after he shook his head._ Superstitious old fools, what was that thing one of their myths? I don't really care; finding the device to control the terror is all I need from this place. Once I rule the world I'll send the best experts to these ancient sites so I can recreate the culture of my people anew, of course the Nektons will have a place in the new order, not matter what they want. _Alpheus thought as he planned how he would restructure the world.

He walked through the space with a disinterested look as he walked about with the robots following him. He looked about and sighed when he saw the remnants of a crude barricade at the end of the chamber and gestured for the labor units to move forward, as they did so he waited for them to break through the barricade and sent one of the drones over them to check beyond. He sighed and called up a hologram screen from his watch that showed what the drone camera saw and sighed as he looked at it.

"And true to form there will be a way upwards with the way down so…the way is clear. A.R.I.A the way to the lower level is clear! I can finally learn what they have down there!" Alpheus said with an excited edge to his voice. As soon as the labor units finished creating a way past the barricade he ran past them and looked with a shocked look on his face down a staircase and a manic look in his eyes. _This is it; I can finally learn what's down one of these things! If it's a vault like I thought then maybe I can find a device I can take apart, learn how to find the frequency that powers them and use that to Lemuria itself!_ He thought with a giddy laugh as he directed one of his flying drones down the stairway, following along behind it with the robots following behind him.

As he walked down he looked around as his suit lite up the walls and he noticed a few Lemurian symbols on the wall, as he walked he translated what he was seeing._ 'Transport terminal'? What could be so far down have to do with transport, I can't wait until I can find out the truth about this place, perhaps I'll even find out what the device I'm hunting is._ Alpheus thought as he reached the floor the stairs were leading to. Looking around he noticed what looked like stone furniture, the skeletons of humans of various ages thrown about and a doorway at the far end chained with a broken piece along the bottom of the door where light came from. He walked forwards and stopped within ten feet of the door and looked at the light.

"We're too deep for that to be from the light crystal above, so where is it coming from? A secondary one but if they could make them why weren't they in other cities? Labor units one and two, break down the doors." Alpheus said as the two robots started to move towards the door before a voice came over his communicator.

"Alpheus if you have found an unexplained deviation then you should send in a drone first." A.R.I.A. said causing Alpheus to just laugh. _I should really try and program a sense of wonder into her, but how would I go about doing that I have no idea. _ He thought as he grinned.

"Should, but I think sometimes it's best to take a chance and roll the dice." Alpheus said as the robots started to scan the doors before they grabbed two different sections and started to move backwards, slowly pulling the doors back until they crashed. As the robots moved aside he walked forward and saw the light had come from a passage way that lead downward. He tapped a few buttons on his communicator and sent two of the hover drones down the passage and followed after them, completely intent on the ground before him, looking for any holes or pitfalls that might cause him to break his neck. After a while he entered a chamber with a red crystal on the celling with a woman in red sleeveless top with dark orange chest armor over it and red pants with red hair. She was in a meditation pose with a white energy field over her, most of it centered around a strange technological looking glove on her right hand. He stopped and stared with open disbelief at what he was seeing._ She's perfectly preserved, is the glow a part of their science, could this be how they persevered bodies for burial? But why this place, and why haven't I found others in my exploration? Questions that can I answer once I've secure this specimen._ He thought as he walked towards her, wondering if it was safe to touch theglow. When he was about five feet from her she grunted and fell forward. She looked up with a smile that turned into a small frown as she saw him.

"I don't know you, where's August?" She asked as she tried to get up and Alpheus went to steady her.

"Take a minute; I don't know how long you've been in whatever you were so what year is it?" Alpheus asked as his mind raced, trying to understand how this was possible.

"2018 wait, why? How long was I gone?" The woman asked as Alpheus looked at her in shock. _She can't be…but if so how did she get down here?_ He thought as he tried to understand what he was hearing.

"2018 what?" Alpheus asked with a tense look at the woman.

"AD. Who are you, how long was I gone and where am I? I don't recognize the architect, what outpost is this?" She asked as she looked around the

"Well it's still 2018 and you're in a city under Antarctica. I'm Alpheus, Alpheus Benthos and who are you?" He asked as she looked at him before she collapsed. Checking her pulse he sighed as he realized she was still alive, probably weak but alive.

"A.R.I.A., send the medical down now and prep the med bay, we have a guest." He said as he gently lowered her to the ground and removed the technological glove as he stood up and looked down at her, wondering just what she represented but sure it would be important.


End file.
